


Turn Back the Clock

by IronScript



Series: Turn Back the Clock [2]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: BOTH OF THEM REMEMBER, Long-distance relationships, M/M, RIP Yakov's Hair, SO MUCH FLUFF, Self-Indulgent, Social Media, Time Travel, Vicchan doesn't die, VictUuri, Victuri, Viktor and Yuuri sponsor Yuri to lessen the stress of having to provide for his family, Viktor is so Extra™, Viktor skates more flawlessly than ever, Viktor spelled as such, Vikturi, YouTube, YouTuber!Yuuri, Yuuri goes to America early, Yuuri is 14 and Viktor is 18 at the start, Yuuri starting his career with a bang, a little angst before they realize the other remembers, basically Yuuri is a polyglot, basically every character shows up eventually, but his sense of self-worth got better, nothing physical until Yuuri is legal, potentially cavity-inducing, re-write in progress, they cause so much confusion between them, using future knowledge to their advantage, viktuuri, yuuri still has anxiety
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-09-21 02:17:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 52
Words: 58,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9527402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IronScript/pseuds/IronScript
Summary: When Yuuri and Viktor wake up over thirty years in the past, they don't know what to do. Does the other remember?Luckily that particular question is quickly answered and they can relax slightly, but what about afterwards? Viktor was brought back to right before his first Olympics, and Yuuri isn’t even old enough to compete in Seniors’!Then there's the fact that they're still very much in love, but a physical relationship would be illegal (and would gross them both out considering Yuuri's age), and they can't count on anyone to just trust them not to do anything age inappropriate. So maybe being long-distance (with as many in-person meetings as possible) would be better until Yuuri becomes a legal adult physically, never mind his actual age.But it's hard to behave and act naturally when you're forced to be apart from your husband of twenty years, especially during one of the most stressful parts of anyone's life, so Yuuri and Viktor have to distract themselves somehow, right?Right.And if everyone around them ends up completely confused and blindsided at their sudden changes (though admittedly they seem to have changed for the better), then so be it!





	1. What Is Going On Here?!

**Author's Note:**

> My own take on the 'back in time' concept. 
> 
> Inspired to write this primarily by On My Love by RikoJasmine and Turn Backwards and Go by inkwellofstars, though there are definitely more time travel Yuri On Ice stories than those two worth the read!

Yūri groaned as he woke up, feeling his muscles ache in protest as he shifted slightly, extending his arm to grab his cell phone so he could check the time.

He was too tired to realize that he shouldn’t even be sore, having retired years ago and lightened his physical activity significantly as he aged. The soreness wouldn’t have been from any other activities, either, since his husband was on a business trip…

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as his hand hit a wall instead of the phone, or at least the nightstand the phone rested on.

Wondering how that had happened, since their bed wasn’t positioned against a wall, he opened his eyes to try and figure out was going on.

He froze as his mind processed what he was seeing.

His…childhood bedroom back at Yutopia Katsuki.

What?

Sure, he and Viktor had moved back to Hasetsu eventually, taking on students at Ice Castle Hasetsu (both of them) and Minako's dance studio (just Yuuri), but they had their own place. Why on earth was he at the onsen...? 

Cautiously, he sat up, intending to go find his sister (who had taken over the daily running of the inn to let their parents retire peacefully, though their mother at least still helped around as much as Mari let her get away with), when he realized that despite his aching muscles, he was having a far easier time getting up than he was used to.

Wondering if confusion would be his primary emotion for the day, Yūri looked down at himself bemusedly, only to freeze once again as he took note of his body.

Thinner than he’d been in a long time, even more so than when he’d been in the best shape of his life back when he competed in the senior division.

He looked more like…he hadn’t finished growing, yet. His legs were shorter, too.

What the hell?

Feeling his chest constrict painfully, he got up and staggered out of his room, nearly running into Mari.

He stared up at his sister, mouth dropping a bit. 

Younger, definitely. No lingering smell from her smoking…wearing an old uniform their parents had done away with decades ago…

“Yūri? Yūri!” she raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him, and he suddenly realized that she had been trying to get his attention.

Probably wondering why her idiot of a little brother was just staring at her, frozen in the hallway.

“S-sorry, neechan.” Yūri said weakly. “I’m just feeling a little under the weather. Don’t mind me!”

With that, he pivoted on his heel and sprinted towards the closest bathroom.

As he had suspected, when he looked in the mirror, it was to find a much-younger-than-he-actually-was version of himself staring back.

After a long, long moment, he felt a little faint, and staggered back to close the bathroom door, slowly falling against it onto the floor as he tried to process what this might mean.

‘Please let this be a dream!’ He thought to himself desperately.

He felt himself calm slightly at the thought, but then he tensed up again as he realized that this was way too vivid to be a dream. Which meant that, more likely than not, it was  
real. Somehow.

Which meant that so many things that he’d finally accepted as part of his life (falling for Viktor and Viktor falling in love with him in return, Yurio becoming like family to him, being accepted and loved by his family and so many friends all over the world—here he tried to halt his thoughts, which were causing his heartbeat to start beating more rapidly than was healthy) hadn’t happened.

Or, at least…they hadn’t happened yet.

With that thought, he did manage to calm down slightly, this time for real, though the ache in his chest didn’t go away.

First, he had to find out the date.

After that…well, he’d have to figure that out, wouldn’t he?

~

When he finally let himself out of the bathroom and went back to his own room (and wow, it was going to take some used to thinking of the space in the present tense again), his breath caught in his throat as he noticed a very small canine sleeping at the foot of his bed.

A very familiar, chocolate-colored toy poodle with a red collar.

Vicchan!

Yūri slowly walked towards his beloved first dog, one of his most ardent supporters (and his best friend) before his untimely death shortly before Yūri’s Free Skate back in the 2014 Sochi Grand Prix Finals.

It had destroyed him, not having been there when the poor dog was run over by a car, not being able to attend his funeral—the guilt, having not even seen him in the last five years of his life outside of photos and the occasional video chat…

Yūri had always been convinced that even if Vicchan hadn’t died, he’d still have managed to mess up that first Grand Prix Finals he had made it to, what with his anxiety, the pressure of finals as he’d also been attending college at the time, and the pressure he’d felt from what seemed to be all of Japan, but…

But of all of those external stressors, Vicchan’s death had been by far the worst.

He didn’t realize that he was crying until he heard a confused whine from the dog that he’d been unconsciously stroking gently, fingers wrapping themselves in the loose curls as he realized that he had been given another chance…

With a teary chuckle, he swooped the sleepy dog into his arms, going to sit on his computer chair as the ancient PC woke up. 

It took far longer than the technology he was used to, and Yūri found himself a little annoyed, but once it had finally loaded and he caught sight of the date, his mind immediately abandoned the annoyance and went straight to more important matters.

February 8th, 2006.

There was something about that date…something important…if only Yūri could remember what.

A click of the mouse and a few taps on his keyboard, and he was on MSN (wow, it had been a while), looking at the news headline at the top of the page.

The thing that caught his attention, more than the words themselves, were the Olympic rings.

Oh. That would explain it.

Today was just a few days before the opening ceremonies for the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Right now, Viktor, his beloved (former? Future?) husband of about 20 years, was most likely in Italy already, gearing up to participate in his first Olympics and, of course, win his first Olympic gold medal.

Confronted once again with the idea that Viktor probably didn’t remember him and that to anyone but himself Yūri was just a ‘slightly obsessed’ fanboy…well, he wasn’t ready for it, after the constant shocks of the morning…

Well, who could really blame him for fainting?

~

Thousands of miles away, one Viktor Nikiforov had woken up in his eighteen year old body to much confusion and horror (he might’ve hated aging, but his husband’s absence sure as hell took priority over any glee he might have otherwise felt from being young again.

It didn’t take too long for him to work out where (and when) he was, considering his phone had always been a constant companion.

The Olympics…wow, the last one he’d participated in had been back in 2014, but this was his first, and it seemed like a lifetime ago…maybe it technically was, now that he thought about it.

He caught sight of a heart-wrenchingly familiar figure standing in the doorway to his hotel room. 

“Yakov!” Viktor dearly wanted to hug the man he hadn’t seen since his passing a few years before (or nearly three decades later, depending on how you look at it), and he would, but first. “I need to change my Short Program!”

Leaving his coach sputtering in shock behind him, he quickly called up one of his old ‘friends’ in Russia, not someone he truly liked but one he could trust to at least—“Dmitri! I need you to ship me the outfit I wore back at Junior Worlds’ when I was sixteen! You know the one, black, with the half-skirt—I need it as soon as possible, overnight if you can! I need it here before I go out to skate!”

“VITYA!” Yakov roared, managing to break free from his shock for a moment.

“Just please, please do it.” Viktor pled into the mouthpiece of his phone, eyeing the old coach warily but not willing to budge in the slightest. Quickly, he hung up, preparing to face Yakov’s wrath.

Still, Yūri was the most important thing to him in any lifetime, and if there was even the slightest chance that Yūri remembered him, there was no way the Japanese man (or would it be boy?) would miss the sign Viktor was about to give him that he wasn’t alone.


	2. Meeting Me Where I Am

Not even three days later, and Viktor is standing at the edge of the rink in a costume he hadn’t worn in two years (and goddamn it, he should have known it would be a much tighter fit than he remembered, had Yūri really been even smaller than Viktor was now when the Japanese man had worn it?), fingers trembling slightly as the announcers call him out to the ice.

As he stepped out onto his stage, he felt Yakov glaring daggers at his back.

So painfully familiar.

Viktor wished that he hadn’t had to piss the man off immediately after getting him back (not that Yakov knew he had left), but he dearly hoped the man would forgive him.

Winning gold would help with that, but…

Well, Viktor wasn’t used to being young again. He’d only had a few days to re-acclimate himself, yet here he was at the biggest sporting event in the world.

He wanted to do his country proud, to do Yakov proud, but even if Viktor had stuck with the routine he’d originally skated for the Short Program, that didn’t change the fact that while his body was used to the routine, his mind wasn’t used to his body.

Oh well. Nothing for it. He’d just have to go out there, do his best, and pray to any deity that may or may not be listening that his beloved Yūri had come back with him and would respond to the blatant signal that Viktor was about to send out to him.

‘Well,’ he thought to himself dryly. ‘At least even if I blow it Yūri won’t think any less of me, regardless of whether or not he remembers.’

He had never quite understood how such an amazing, perfect person as his husband had managed to fall for a selfish person like him, but he had come to realize at some point when he’d come out of his semi-retirement the first time around that Yūri didn’t care if he won, he just wanted Viktor to enjoy himself.

If only the younger man had realized that the same thing held true for Viktor.

But he could think about that later. For now, he had a message to send.

“Skating for Russia is first-time Olympian Viktor Nikiforov, age 18. He will be skating to the song On Love: Eros…”

He wished he could’ve skated to Yuri On Ice, but considering the song didn’t exist yet, it hadn’t been an option. Agape wasn’t an option, either, considering not only did Viktor fully believe it to be Yurio’s (not that he thought of Eros as his anymore) but the only costume that fit the theme, the one Yurio had chosen all those years ago, would have fit even more horridly than the costume he was currently wearing.

He was so lost in his musings that he nearly missed his cue, but managed to start in time, being sure to send a flirty wink and lick of the lips towards the camera that was right in front of him.

~

Back in Japan, Yūri prepared to watch his once and future husband’s short program, having been extremely relieved when he remembered that 2006 had been the first year where there was live coverage of the Olympics available to those with cell phones, at least depending on which country you were in. 

He had watched the opening ceremonies to try and catch sight of Viktor, but the camera only caught him a few times, and Yūri couldn’t remember the original footage from the first timeline’s Olympics well enough to be able to tell if Viktor was doing anything different.

When he saw his husband’s eighteen year old visage waiting to be announced in an outfit that he knew damn well hadn’t been what he’d worn the first time around, Yūri’s breath caught in his throat as he realized what this meant, a feeling only strengthened when it was announced what he was skating to.

Yūri gave a teary giggle as Viktor winked at the screen, licking his lips teasingly.

In the original timeline when Viktor had skated to this when showing Yūri himself how it was performed, the other man had played the masculine part, but now Viktor was utilizing the androgynous costume (and his not-yet-cut hair, Yūri realized) to pull off the routine by using more feminine movements, as Yūri had when he made it his own.

His husband remembered him.

That was the only explanation for this.

Viktor’s movements weren’t as fluid as he was capable of, Yūri took note, but he wasn’t surprised in the slightest by that, knowing perfectly well from his own experience over the past few days at Ice Castle Hasetsu how much this mind-trip, being thrust into a much younger body straight from an older body that hadn’t pulled off such difficult moves in years, could affect you.

His husband did touch down on the ice during one of his quads, and he over-rotated a triple, but as always, Yūri was too entranced by Viktor’s grace to even notice.

He did wonder if Viktor would manage to snag gold like in the original timeline, when his score for the short program put him in second place after Switzerland’s skater, but Yūri  
didn’t really care one way or the other, as long as Viktor was happy.

His mind scrambled to find a way to return Viktor’s message—because it was entirely too obvious that he had skated for Yūri and no one else, just as Yūri himself had always done.

Phone? He was certain that Viktor had a different number than when the one Yūri remembered him having back when they met.

E-mail? It would probably get drowned out by all of Viktor’s other fans.

Twitter? If he remembered right, that wouldn’t even be released for another few months.

…Facebook, then, Yūri decided with a sigh.

~

Later that night, when he’d finally managed to ditch Yakov (who had calmed slightly now that he knew Viktor’s ‘impulsiveness’ hadn’t robbed him of the chance to medal, though he was still furious), Viktor was able to finally go online, ready to try and find out if his husband remembered.

His homepage was set to Facebook, and he noticed a friendship request with a message attached, which was odd only because his Facebook had always been set to private and was under a pseudonym so fans couldn’t find him, unlike his other social media accounts.

When he opened the message to see ‘Vitya’ at the top, he hands once again started shaking.

Eyes closing in a heartfelt prayer, Viktor took a deep breath before opening them again. The only one who called him that at this point in the original timeline was Yakov, and he knew his coach wasn’t on Facebook, so that left the person he wanted to hear from the most.

As he read the contents, tears started pouring down his face in what seemed to be an endless waterfall. He was sure that he would end up getting a headache from all the crying he was doing, but it was so worth it.

'With Love,

Your Katsudon'

Best of all, Yūri had thought to include his current phone number and e-mail address.

Viktor already had his phone out, number dialed, before he even realized he had moved.

It wasn’t until Yūri picked up that he realized how early in the morning it was in Japan.

~

“Moshi Moshi.” Yūri yawned into the mouthpiece of his cell phone, having been struggling to stay awake long enough for Viktor to see his message. Damn time zones…

“Lyubov moya?” A very familiar voice whispered on the other end, almost sounding like the speaker was barely willing to believe it, terrified that he was dreaming.

Yūri was intimately familiar with that feeling, during the past few hours since the short program, especially.

“Vitenka…” Yūri breathed, tears already streaming down his face as he heard his husband sob in relief.

~


	3. Kiss it for me?

Yūri sighed as he got off the phone with Viktor—after a three hour long call where he’d spent over half of it convincing the older ‘teenager’ not to just ditch for the rest of the Olympics (Viktor was just so extra sometimes) to come be with Yūri in Japan.

He made no promises, however, about afterwards. 

The European Championships were already over and done with before they came back, and after Viktor’s Free Skate, he only had the World Championships to worry about until the next season.

Yūri wondered about the logistics of a possible visit.

As much as he wanted to see his husband, he couldn’t imagine any excuse they could give that would in any way justify Viktor coming to Hasetsu. Becoming Yūri’s coach was hardly going to work, as Yūri had nipped the idea of early retirement in the bud before Viktor could even voice the idea. 

His family and friends would give him the most trouble, Yūri knew. Just a week ago, the Yūri they knew had been a gushing fanboy regarding Viktor, so how could he make them understand that his feelings for Viktor were so much meaningful and deep than that?

Things changed, sure, but not that quickly.

Maybe if Viktor didn’t come to Hasetsu itself, and Yūri found an excuse to meet up with him somewhere else in Japan?

His parents would probably insist that someone went with him if he did end up finding a good enough reason, but it might work. He could ask Minako…or maybe Mari, who was probably less likely to tease him.

He’d have to think about it later.

For now, he needed to get his chores done…he’d always felt like he’d never shown enough appreciation to his family for supporting (financially and otherwise) his dreams so long, and doing some manual labor was the least he could do to thank them.

He’d have to try and work harder to get sponsorships so his parents wouldn’t have to spend so much of their savings for him…

~

Viktor smiled wryly as he noticed Stéphane Lambiel glance at him in honest surprise when it was declared that it was he, and not Viktor, who had become the Olympic champion for Men’s figure skating.

It was a slight disappointment to Viktor that he wouldn’t be able to present Yūri and Yakov with a gold medal, but he’d known the Swiss skater for a long time, and he didn’t begrudge him the win, even if in another life it had rightfully been Viktor’s.

That being said, not winning gold was hardly a shock. He was honestly surprised he’d managed to beat out the Canadian competitor for silver, though it hadn’t been by much.

As he had known would happen, and despite his practicing whenever he possibly could over the past few days, Viktor not only had issues getting used to his current body, but the Free Skate routine he’d had to use (Yakov might have outright killed him if he’d changed both programs, and even Viktor had the sense not to tempt fate) wasn’t one that he’d really kept skating after it had won him gold the first time around.

Back then, Viktor was all about surprising the audience, and sticking with a routine longer than a season just wasn’t something he had done. Even during his workouts he was working on new material.

It had been a huge pain to relearn his routine, to say the least.

But he’d gotten through it, and had managed to snag another medal for Russia, so whatever.

He paused as a thought occurred to him.

He still had to get through the Exhibition before being done with the Olympics. He didn’t really remember that routine, either.

~

Yakov paused in confusion, having sworn he had heard a low whine coming from his student. But that didn’t make any sense, he’d just placed in the Olympics his first time as a competitor!

As dramatic as the brat was, not even Vitya could be too disappointed with silver, right?

Then again, the kid had been acting pretty strange the past few days…

Coming up with an entirely new routine a few days before the biggest competition in the world?

Gah!

He could almost feel his hair graying even more.

It had been brown before he started coaching!

~

A month later, once people had finally stopped making him pose with his medal, Viktor did what he’d been planning to do from the moment he’d earned the thing.

~

Two days later (priority shipping was a blessing), Yūri received a package, and recognizing the Cryllic on the shipping label, he hid it away and opened it in the privacy of his room.

When he lifted away the tissue paper to see what his husband had sent him, only to see the silver Olympic medal he’d just won, he face-palmed.

The letter didn’t help.

‘Yūri!

Sorry I didn’t bring home the gold, but I hope this will do!

Please kiss it for me?

-Your Vitya’

Sometimes he wanted to smack his husband. Unfortunately, due to the distance between them, that would have to wait for a later date.

Still…

He gave a small sigh, lips curving into a fond smile as he gently pressed his lips to the medal.

~

Once Yūri had sent it back to Viktor, the Russian quickly tore it out of the box and pressed his own lips to the medal, knowing that his once and future husband’s lips had been there, even though Yūri had sounded annoyed over the phone when he’d sent it in the first place.

Something inside of him relaxed, but his longing somehow managed to get even worse.

‘How am I going to survive with Yūri so far away?’ he thought with a pout, burying his face in Makkachin's fur.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I might have fibbed a little.  
> The main angst is over with, but the longing caused by the forced long-distance? I could hardly cut that out; it would be too unrealistic!


	4. Back on Top

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yakov wonders what the hell he was thinking when agreed to take Viktor on as his student.
> 
> He's a good kid, deep down, but the brat is going to make him go prematurely bald, he just knows it!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, thank you for all the awesome reviews, everyone! Totally loving that so many of you are commenting on just how Extra Viktor is, and how even those of you who comment on the cheesiness and ridiculousness seem to agree that it’s not really outside the realm of possibility when it comes to him.
> 
> Ah, I’m so glad I finally gave in and watched Yuri On Ice!!! Best. Fandom. Ever.
> 
> So anyway! Sorry I haven’t updated as quickly as I did at first. My work schedule includes four 10 hour shifts, and those chapters happened to fall on my days off, but I was too exhausted mentally to write anything decent after my shifts on the other days.  
> Well, that, and research for this takes a while. I’m not going to be perfect, and I’m not so much focusing on the technical aspects of figure skating, so I don’t know much about calculating any potential scores. Not sure if I should just leave the actual numbers vague, or ask for a volunteer who knows what they’re doing for me to send the routines and relevant execution details (got to get those GOE scores) for a more realistic score. Not that all of the moves the skaters pull off would be realistic, of course, but that’s true for the show, too, much less fanfiction.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

‘Oh yeah, the ISU Congress didn’t take out the qualifying round until the end of this season.’ Viktor mused to himself as he tuned out yet another of Yakov’s lectures (it’s not like he was worried about being able to move on), wanting little more than to excuse himself for the night and call Yūri.

If he had still been in Saint Petersburg, than it would have been far too early to call his husband, but since he was currently in Calgary, Canada for the World Championships, it was just after noon in Japan.

Of course, in Japan it was technically the next day, since it was a sixteen hour difference, and that was a bit odd, but he’d mostly gotten used to it over the years.

The time difference, much less the constant changes in time zones, could be really confusing, but he wanted to keep them in mind so he could call Yūri at midnight in Japan on their anniversary next month, since they had already decided that for them, the dates in the real world mattered little to them, choosing instead to consider when they’d been sent back in time and just count the days so they could more accurately (for them anyway) celebrate the important days in their lives.

It would be strange, celebrating their birthdays and holidays like Valentine’s Day, White Day, and Christmas later than the rest of the world (not that Russia didn’t celebrate Christmas in January anyway), but they didn’t particularly mind.

“Vitya!” Yakov hissed, a pronounced vein nearly popping out from his temple as he realized that his prized student wasn’t paying him the least bit of attention.

“Ne?” Viktor responded automatically, before backtracking slightly as Yakov’s eyebrows furrowed at the random use of Japanese, not that he recognized it as such. “I mean, sorry, coach. I had just had a thought on how to improve my step sequence a little, but I was listening.”

“Sure you were.” Yakov muttered in disbelief, though he relaxed slightly at the lie, glad that Viktor was focused more on the competition than he seemed to be. Or at least that’s what he had to let himself believe, for the good of his blood pressure and, you know, the state of his hair.

Maybe he should start considering retirement…but no, he figured that he might be the only coach that could handle Viktor,* and he was too good a skater to just let fall through the cracks, or worse, be left to a coach that didn’t understand how to work with him.

Not that Yakov really considered their relationship to involve working with Viktor. It was more like Viktor just did more or less whatever he wanted and Yakov dealt with all of the ‘boring’ aspects of the sport.

Though, now that he thought about it…Viktor hadn’t been shying away from those less exciting parts over the few weeks. 

Well…he’d let the boy be, for now. At least until he did something even more stupid than changing one of his programs right before the most important and renowned competition in the world.

Yakov doubted anything could beat that level of stupidity, but Vitya lived to surprise people, so maybe he would find a way to outdo himself.

~

Yakov looked on with a slightly proud glint in his eyes as Viktor greeted his many fans with a smile, once again wearing a gold medal on his neck.

That would keep the sponsors happy. Some of them had been wary that Viktor’s glory days were over when he didn’t win gold in Italy, as if only winning silver at the Olympic games was something to be ashamed of and indicated the decline of his career.

Idiots, the lot of them.

He was brought out of his musings as he saw Viktor actually kneel down in front of a little girl who was shyly looking up at him through her eyelashes, holding out a small photograph of Viktor that looked to have been removed from a magazine, though it seemed that her words had abandoned her as she failed to verbalize her request.

Or there was a language barrier, Yakov realized as a young woman came up from behind the little girl and went to ask Viktor if he could sign her daughter’s photo in English.

‘Ah, Japanese, then.’ Yakov acknowledged at the woman’s thick accent.

His eyes nearly popped out of his skill (a feeling all too familiar) when Viktor beamed at the pair and immediately started speaking Japanese.

The woman’s eyes also widened in shock at the skater's apparent fluent skill in her native tongue, and her daughter beamed back, shyness abating slightly as Viktor bowed deeply (if awkwardly since he was still kneeling in front of her) towards the pair.

Yakov had little idea what they were talking about, and wasn’t paying much attention, still struck by the fact that Viktor apparently knew Japanese (he hadn’t displayed that skill at the NHK Trophy during the Grand Prix series a few months ago!)

Viktor spoke with the pair for nearly five minutes, longer than he’d interacted with any other fan that had approached him, and when he eventually ventured back to Yakov’s side, it was with a fond, slightly sad, and dare he think nostalgic smile on his face.

“W-what was that?!” Yakov sputtered.

Viktor blinked at him, daring to look bewildered at Yakov’s question as the strange look in his eyes slowly faded away. “What do you mean?”

“That!” Yakov gestured towards where the two Japanese females were walking away, the little girl with an excited gait. “Since when do you speak Japanese?!”

Unbeknownst to him, the girl’s autograph (and the encouraging message Viktor had written along with it when Aimi admitted she enjoyed ice skating herself) was written in kanji, the most difficult to learn of the Japanese writing systems.

“Oh, that!” Viktor beamed. “It’s such a beautiful language, isn’t it? So graceful and fluid. More romantic than French, even.”

“Vitya.” Yakov warned.

“Oh, calm down, Yakov.” Viktor gave a chuckle, and Yakov found himself wondering at the way the boy said his name, like they were far more familiar with each other than they actually were, having only been working ‘together’ for the past few years. “I…liked the sound of the language when we were last in Japan, and I decided to learn some of the language, enough to at least use their honorifics correctly if we ever went back, and to be able to properly apologize and thank people when I needed to. I just…never stopped learning it.”

Yakov just looked at him strangely.

He became fluent in a language simply because it sounded nice to him? He didn’t believe for a second about the other reasons the boy had given, since he’d never seemed to care about being polite before, regardless of the cultural differences of wherever they happened to be.

After a long moment, he sighed as he remembered the young prodigy’s motto.

Always keep surprising them.

Well, he constantly succeeded with Yakov, at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *According to Wikipedia regarding the 2006 ISU World Championships, none of the 2006 gold medalists for figure skating competed that year for Worlds. I figure I’ll make that true for the original timeline, but have Viktor (who of course is an Olympic silver medalist this time) yearn to prove himself again, to Russia if not Yūri and himself. Of course, this means that Stéphane Lambiel, who in real life had won silver in the Olympics and gold at Worlds but in this story won gold at the Olympics in Viktor’s place and followed the same trend as the other gold medalists, didn’t compete, clearing the way for Viktor. 
> 
> *Viktor claimed that Yakov was the only coach for him right before asking him to coach Yūri during the Free Skate at Rostelecom, and I figured I’d throw in a reference to that, even if in a different context.


	5. Impulsiveness Strikes Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Viktor and Yūri finally have a chance to meet up in person, and Viktor's impulsiveness causes him to do something that, as always, will either turn out wonderfully or horribly, because with him, there is no in-between.

Mari hummed quietly to herself as Yūri twiddled his thumbs, eyes constantly scouring the crowd around them. Expectant.

“Why are we here?” she asked after a moment, blunt as always. “We’ve already put in the order for your new skates. There’s no reason to just hang around…”

Her little brother bit his lip sheepishly, but gave her a slight, hesitant smile. “I…ended up connecting with another figure skater online. Since it’s the off season, he needed a vacation, and he’s already fluent in our language…well, he decided to come visit in person.”

“…Right.” Mari said skeptically. “And just who is this figure skater?”

Her answer came not in the form of a response from him, but a cheerful shout of his name from across the street.

Mari.exe stopped working as her eyes took in the form of one of the most famous figure skaters in the seniors division, Nikiforov Viktor—er, Viktor Nikiforov.

The same one who Yūri had started collecting posters of when he began to skate (though he’d recently taken them down).

The same one who just medaled in the Olympics before moving on to become the World Champion.

Viktor Nikiforov, who basically ran towards them, cars be damned, with an utterly baffling amount of fondness and delight in his bright blue eyes as he tackled Yūri into a tight bear hug.

She glanced up at the sky warily, half-expecting to see a flying pig soaring above them.

What the hell—

~

“—is going on?” Yūri jumped slightly at his sister’s question.

He let go of his husband, aware that his sister might very well be having an existential crisis brought on by the pure what-the-fuckness of what was happening in front of her. Not that he blamed her, everything considered.

He was about to step away from Viktor when the silver haired eighteen year old whined in protest and simply hugged him from behind, though unlike at the regionals competition when he’d first done it all those years ago, Yūri was hardly caught off guard by it.

“Mari-neechan, Viktor.” Yūri began the introductions. “Viktor, Mari.”

He didn’t bother with family names, as both of them obviously knew perfectly well who the other was, and the second half of the introduction was completely redundant anyway.

“Ohayō gozaimasu!” Viktor let go of Yūri just long enough to bow deeply towards Mari, bowed at a perfect 90 degree angle.

Mari stared at him—no, at them, for a long, long moment.

Eventually, she sighed, and took out a cigarette. “Explain.”

~

Yūri’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull when Viktor, the moment they’d sat down in the private area of the park they’d decided to visit, said words that Yūri honestly worried might give his sister a heart attack, no matter how calm and collected she usually was.

“I’m Yūri’s trophy husband!” he chirped, contently taking a sip of the green tea they had stopped for on the way. “Ah, I missed this place. Remember when we picnicked here on our fifth anniversary, Yūri?”

Yūri was too busy groaning and trying to refrain from reaching up and pulling his hair out to answer him.

“Huh?” Mari’s jaw dropped, and then she shook her head forcefully. “I’m sorry, my English isn’t the best. I think I might have misunderstood what you said.”

She was actually downplaying her skill with the language, since her English was nearly as good as Yūri’s and Viktor’s, but her mind couldn’t help but jump to that conclusion.

That idea was, of course, blown away entirely when Viktor repeated himself. 

In perfect Japanese. Obviously.

Mari stared at them for another long, long moment, and as she absorbed what he had said (and looked at Yūri for clarity only to find him not denying it), her own cardboard cup was slowly crushed by her clenching fist.

“You are going to tell me exactly what is going on here, or I am going to contact some old school friends with yukuza connections and—“

“Time travel.” Yūri cut her off with a sigh.

She was bluffing, since Hasetsu was too small and arguably insignificant that there was no yukuza presence, but he figured it was best for her blood pressure if she got her answers quickly.

And so…

“In our time, I was a few months from turning 45. Viktor was 48.” He ignored his husband’s cringe at the mention of his age, hand automatically going up to the hair on his head, even though his scalp at that age had had no less hair than when he and Yūri had met. “We were married for nearly 20 years--”

"ARE, not were." Viktor grumbled.

"We don't have the papers to make it legal." Yūri muttered back. "Even if we did, with my current age, it wouldn't be legal anyway."

"Technicalities!" Viktor declared.

~

“Fuck.” Mari groaned loudly as she struggled to come to terms with what she had been told.

She would have liked to think that it was entirely made up, some elaborate prank, but the huge onslaught of information about what had apparently happened in their time, and mentions of things that didn’t even exist yet…

“I need a drink.” She said, staring them in the eye and daring them to try and stop her.

Viktor, of course, perked up. “Ah, that sounds like a lovely—“

“Drinking age in Japan is 20, Viktor.” Yūri interrupted him dryly. “No alcohol for you.”

He didn’t bother to mention that basically no one actually paid attention to that law, and that it was very easy for minors to get their hands on it if they wanted to.

Call it revenge for all of the times Viktor had teasingly brought up their drunken (on Yūri’s part) dance at the Sochi Grand Prix Finals banquet back in 2015.

He wasn’t surprised when Viktor’s shoulders slumped, simply choosing to run his fingers through Viktor’s hair, marveling at the length, which he’d never had the opportunity to see in person the first time around.

Mari stared at them, noting how completely an utterly comfortable and relaxed they were in each other’s presence.

Viktor, leaning his head back slightly to give Yūri a better reach while simultaneously reaching behind him to offer a bite of his dango to Yūri, who took a bite, entirely unbothered by the fact that the other boy (man, she corrected mentally) had already taken a bite out of it.

Ugh. How the hell was she going to manage to separate them later on when they had to leave?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hadn't had so much as a thought of them bringing anyone into the know, but half-way through page 1, the idea struck me as I was writing Mari's POV.  
> I was going to have her act as Yūri's guardian in America anyway (as, like I said in the tags, he's leaving before 18 like he did in canon), so I figured, with all of the times Viktor and Yūri are going to sneak away, it might help if he doesn't have to deal with an older sibling who thinks he's 14 instead of the middle-aged person he actually is. And this way she'll be an ally when he needs to convince their parents or Minako of something.


	6. Important Discussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is all fine and dandy (well okay, no it isn't, but at least she's not on the verge of passing out due to shock anymore), but Mari wants to make one thing VERY clear...

Viktor and Yūri decided that it was too risky for Viktor to come back to Hasetsu with them, considering they were currently keeping their relationship on the down-low (perfectly understandable) and with his recent successes Viktor was still having to deal with paparazzi.

If the way the pair had behaved hadn’t already managed to convince Mari that they truly were in love, the agonized look in Viktor’s teary eyes (not that her brother was any better) as they explained their reasoning would have convinced her.

That being said, her little brother was currently fourteen years old physically, no matter how old he remembered being, and as such, she felt obligated to set some ground rules for them…

“If you touch my brother before he can legally consent to it—“ Mari hissed at the Russian.

“Mari-neechan!” Yūri’s eyes widened in shock, flushing at the new topic of discussion. “We’re not—“

“Nothing below the waist until he’s 18.” Viktor nodded, and Mari blinked slightly at the firmness in his tone, though she was hardly about to complain.

That did cause Yūri to pause in his attempt to scramble together a protest at Mari’s bluntness, and he turned towards his love curiously. “Why 18? Age of consent in Russia is 16. Michigan too, for that matter.”

Viktor pecked the shorter male on the cheek. “Not in Japan. I’d like to make the best possible impression I can on your parents, and sleeping with their under-aged son before the age Japanese society considers you capable of consenting isn’t a good way to go about that.”

Yūri raised an expectant eyebrow, sensing that there was more to his reasoning.

After a pause, Viktor relented, admitting, “There’s also the fact that I don’t want to have to wait until you’re 20 years old again to be able to marry you if they don’t give us permission. Obviously, we’re not in any rush, but being forced to wait if we want to get married again sooner…definitely worth abstinence for a couple extra years.”

Mari’s eyes widened at that, and so did Yūri’s, though he had a tiny, pleased smile on his lips. “Okay, fair enough.”

The more time she spent witnessing how Viktor interacted with her brother, so different than anything she’d ever seen from him on television or in Yūri’s old magazines, the more she realized how perfect they were for each other.

Though…something her brother said raised a flag with her…

“Wait, what’s this about Michigan?” Mari’s eyebrows furrowed at the word that she had a feeling she had heard before, but that she couldn’t place.

“One of the United States.” Yūri explained. “Originally, when I first turned 18 I moved there to train under my first coach, and that’s where I went to university. I lived there for five years, and it’s where I met my best friend…”

“We should check up on Phichit, come to think of it.” Viktor hummed. “Think he’s taken over the social networking sites yet?”

Yūri rolled his eyes, not bothering to dignify that with an answer.

“America, huh?” Mari murmured thoughtfully.

“Yeah…” Yūri bit his lip. “That’s still the plan, actually. Detroit, or at least the people there, had a huge impact on my life.”

Mari’s shoulders slumped at the thought, not that she could begrudge him that.

Viktor noticed this, and then hummed, saying thoughtfully. “Yūri, didn’t you say you were considering trying to convince kaa-chan (mom) and tou-san (dad) to let you go early?  
You’d need a guardian while you were there. Mari, the other you mentioned before that you regretted not taking the opportunity to get a degree…maybe you can both go?”

The siblings froze, staring at him blankly, before…

Yūri turned towards his sister with shining eyes. “Please! I’m set on going, but it’ll still be a couple of years before I meet my best friend, and it would probably be lonely. We can get an apartment, and bring Vicchan with us—“

“Whoa, gaki (brat), let’s talk to mom and dad about this first, okay?” Mari backed up slightly, more than a little overwhelmed, though by the hopeful look in Yūri’s eyes she doubted she’d be saying no if he did manage to convince their parents.

Yūri smiled slightly, eyes full of love as he thought of their parents. “They want us to be happy. If we can convince them that it’s what we want, they’ll agree.”

He paused thoughtfully, before turning to Viktor. “That applies to consenting to our future marriage, too, as I’m sure you’re aware.”

Viktor shrugged sheepishly. “I know. I still don’t want to do anything that might influence their decision for the worst.”

Yūri snorted. “Please, mom fell in love with the idea of you being her son-in-law from the first week you arrived at Yutopia, and you earned dad’s approval a couple weeks later when you got drunk with him.”

“Somehow I think the fact that our ages this time around might not help our case if I get drunk again.” Viktor said with a slight smile. “Besides, I’m a handsy drunk, remember? That wouldn't help, either.”

“Don’t I know it.” Yūri muttered.

Mari decided that this conversation was delving a little too far into TMI territory for her taste.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *20 is the age of majority in Japan. Kids can get legally married at 18, but it would have to be with parental consent. Also, there is a lot of confusion surrounding what the actual age of consent is in Japan, with it being as low as 13 according to the Japanese Penal Code, but the majority of sources I’ve seen agree that more recent laws increased it to 18 years old in most areas of the country.
> 
> *Sorry for the few Japanese words I’m tossing in with the meaning in parentheses after it, that’s just my way of indicating that though they’re currently speaking English for privacy, they are throwing in a few Japanese titles or nicknames here and there.
> 
> *Yūri might seem a little out of character in his excitement at the idea of Mari coming to Detroit with him, but I figure, shy and anti-social as he is, his first few years in Detroit probably were really lonely until Phichit came. Even if this version of Yūri isn’t as bad with cutting himself off from forming relationships, the idea of having not only Vicchan (who he was already fully intending to bring) but a close family member with him is very appealing.


	7. Nishigori Troubles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! <3

Yūri looked at one of his oldest friends—in both timelines—with a deadpan expression.

“How did you forget White Day? And why are you bringing it up now? It’s been three weeks since then.” he asked the ‘older’ teenager, who scowled in response, trying to hide his sheepishness (and the shame in his expression.) 

“I…I didn’t forget, okay?” Nishigori Takeshi finally admitted with a sigh. “I got her some flowers to thank her for the Giri-choco*, but then when I was about to give them to her, I saw the captain of the football club give her an entire bouquet. In comparison, mine didn’t feel…”

“Enough.” Yūri finished softly, remembering the many times he’d felt like he couldn’t give Viktor what the other man deserved, especially when his husband sometimes had people literally throwing themselves at him. Yūri knew damn well that Viktor disagreed vehemently with Yūri’s feelings about his own worth and did his best to convince him otherwise, but no matter what he’d accomplished in their first life, those feelings had never really gone away. “I understand.”

“Oh, really?” His friend looked at him bitterly, then caught himself and gave an apologetic grimace, having known Yūri long enough to know that feeling inferior was indeed something he could empathize with. He gave a sigh. “She seemed to appreciate the cookies you gave her.”

Yūri’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the near jealousy in his friend’s tone, before remembering that Takeshi and Yūko hadn’t stopped dancing around their feelings yet, and of course Takeshi had no way of knowing that in a few short years they would be happy and expecting three daughters they would think the world of.

There was also the fact that, from Takeshi’s perspective, Yūri himself still had a crush on Yūko, having not let that first puppy crush go entirely until around the time he’d originally turned fifteen, when his peers had started whispering about sex and he couldn’t quite manage to avoid it completely. He’d been so horrified at the idea of doing anything more than hold hands with Yūko that his crush had disappeared immediately.

Eventually he had come to the realization that he was demisexual, which in his case basically meant that he had to get to know a person before he grew attracted to them, and once the attraction was there…well, he’d only ever been attracted to Viktor to that extent, so he didn’t really know if he was gay, bisexual, or ‘Viktor-sexual,’ as Phichit had chirpily suggested at his and Viktor’s wedding.

He shook his head at his friend. “Yūko is basically a sister to me, and I know for a fact she doesn’t see me that way. Yūko gave me some giri-choco, but I’m pretty sure the ones she gave you were honmei-choco*. As for the guy with the bouquet, I saw him give them to her, and once he’d turned away she stuck her tongue out at him. Then she told me that she hadn’t even given him anything on Valentine’s Day.”

“Really?” Takeshi looked up hopefully.

“Really.” Yūri nodded. “She thinks he’s a presumptuous asshole. Her words, not mine.”

Takeshi smirked, though he still looked a little subdued.

“Look…” Yūri drew on his years being with Viktor, painful memories of one of them (mostly Yūri) causing pain to the other entirely by accident, usually due to miscommunication or Yūri’s anxiety. Seeing Viktor in pain was the worst feeling in the world, especially when he was the cause of it, and he knew that the older version of his friend, at least, felt the same way whenever Yūko cried. 

“First, you’re going to need to apologize. I think she’s honestly pretty hurt. You know she cares more about the sentimentality of things, so I’m sure she would appreciate even a single flower from you, someone she cares about, more than she would a bouquet from someone she doesn’t know or like, even if they were the most expensive flowers in the world.”

Takeshi ducked his head sheepishly. He did, in fact, realize that. In hindsight.

But that didn’t stop doubts from creeping into his mind, haunting his thoughts constantly.

Damn. Was that what Yūri had to deal with?

He really needed to start giving the younger boy more credit. 

~

Yūri smiled as he saw Yūko glomp Takeshi into a huge not three hours later as the three of them prepared to get on the ice.

This whole incident had probably happened the first time around, too, with Yūri being too focused on his own issues to remember (yet another thing he’d long since been working on), but…he wasn’t willing to risk his oldest friends’ relationship. 

If they hadn’t found love in each other, then the triplets wouldn’t have been born, and then who would have made Yūri’s attempt at skating to Stammi Vicino go viral? Sure, it had all started at the banquet a few months prior to that, but since Yūri hadn’t remembered his drunk self’s actions and was seriously considering retirement at that point, who knew if he’d have ever seen Viktor again?

He owed everything to those girls, and they needed to be born again so he could spend the rest of his life doing his best to thank them for it, since he no longer could with their original counterparts. 

Though…now that he thought about it…had he and Viktor went back in time in their own timeline, or had their consciousness’s ended up in their younger counterparts’ bodies in a different dimension entirely? Had their going back caused their world as they had known it to cease to exist, or did this timeline just branch off from that? Were they missed? 

Was there anyone too miss them?

Ugh. This was why Back to the Future had always been up there on the list of movies that confused Yūri.

Thinking of the logistics made his head hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, didn't mention anything regarding Viktor and Yuuri celebrating Valentine's Day or White Day because they want to count the days until those sorts of holidays so that it's more accurate from their perspective. I already pulled up a date calculator and worked out the days, so they'll come up eventually.
> 
> I'm sure a lot of you know this if you read stories involving anime, but I thought I'd include this information just in case.
> 
> *In Japan, women are the ones who give offerings to their friends, families, and love interests on Valentine’s Day. It’s not until a month later on White Day, March 14th, that they receive gifts in return.
> 
> *Giri-choco means obligation chocolate, aka the type girls would give to friends and family. Honmei-choco is given to someone they want to be or are already in a romantic relationship with.


	8. Wait a minute, how are we funding this?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mari realizes that there's one aspect of moving across the world that she hadn't thought about. Yuuri already has it worked out, of course, but she's a little (okay, a lot) more hesitant...

Yūri watched his sister warily as he explained just how they were going to fund their move to and life in Detroit, which their parents had agreed to, after extracting promises to call at least once every few days and to come back home (because the onsen would always be there for them) as often as possible.

“Viktor Nikiforov is funding my college education.” Mari summarized.

“Ah…well, yes, technically.” Yūri admitted sheepishly, eyes narrowing slightly in thought as he tried to figure out a way to make his independent sister accept it. “He has more than enough money, even this early in his career. Actually, despite the circumstances, he still thinks of it as both our money. He’s been trying to figure out a way to make me a joint owner on his accounts…”

He rolled his eyes, and Mari was struck by how nonchalant he seemed to be about all of this, not realizing that Yūri was so used to Viktor’s wealth and Extra-ness that eventually he’d gotten used to the idea of spending a lot of money, as long as they had the means to do so.

Not that he’d ever been entirely comfortable on Viktor spending that money on him, but something that would benefit his sister? He was all for it.

“Look, neechan…” Yūri bit his lip. “Viktor…ever since he arrived at Yutopia, you, mom, and dad welcomed him as family, long before we even started dating. For a long time, Viktor…Viktor didn’t have that…the unconditional acceptance and compassion. His yearning for it was part of his inspiration for one of his most emotion-charged programs…though our friend Yura ended up using it, not him. Anyway, from our point of view, you’re Viktor’s sister-in-law. You’ve helped us through…well, a lot.”

Mari’s head lowered slightly, a strange feeling settling as she once again tried to reconcile the fact that while she didn’t really know much about Viktor past what she’d gleaned from Yūri’s former obsession with him and the day they spent together, he really did see her as family.

She might have known that consciously, but actually accepting that was proving to be more difficult.

“Also…I didn’t appreciate it as much as I should have the first time around.” Yūri continued quietly. “You, mom, dad, Minako, Yūko and Takeshi…you were all behind me, supporting me. Without all of you, there’s no way I would have fulfilled my dream to skate on the same ice as Viktor.”

Mari reached out to ruffle her brother’s hair in quiet acceptance of his gratitude. They weren’t particularly tactile with each other, but she figured that if they were going to America, she might as well try and start getting used to more casual physical contact with people. “I think you did a bit more than skate on the ice with him.”

“I did, didn’t I?” Yūri’s lips quirked up into a smile, before continuing with what he’d been saying. “Skating is expensive. The first time around, I wasn’t as aware of that. Our parents and Minako always refused to tell me how much money they were spending so I could continue, and it wasn’t until college that I saw the numbers myself. I mean, I had a few good sponsors under my belt by that point, and more later on, but I hadn’t realized…and then tourism started declining…”

“Wait, what?” Mari had been paying close attention so that she could try and offer a counter to Yūri’s harsh and guilt-filled recollection, but those last few words caught her off guard. “It’s already slowing down…how bad did it get?”

“Ah…” Yūri flinched, regretting bringing it up. “Bad enough that ours was the only onsen left, and Minako had to open a bar to add to her income because a lot of her current students’ families had to move away.”

Mari’s jaw dropped in horror, a hand coming up to cover her mouth.

While she was proud that their family business was apparently the only onsen in Hasetsu that managed to survive the declining tourism, she knew perfectly well that her parents would mourn the reason for it rather than rejoice. Along with that, to hear that their surrogate aunt, the highly talented former ballerina who had been an inspiration to them both for so long (even longer than Viktor had for Yūri) had struggled so much…

“We need to do something.” She said firmly.

“Yes.” Yūri agreed solemnly with a hint of steel in his expression. “Last time around…there were so many opportunities I turned away because I didn’t think I deserved them. Sponsorships, interviews...this time I won’t be so hasty, if I do start getting those offers again. Hasetsu needs all the publicity it can get if we want people to start visiting again.”

“Did it ever get better?” Mari wondered, breaking what had become a self-imposed rule not to ask too much about their futures.

She was immediately relieved by the smile that her brother gave her.

“Eventually.” He assured her. “Enough that not only did mom and dad decide to renovate and expand, but a few of the other families reopened their own onsen. We had Ice Castle renovated too when Viktor and I moved back here, and once it was done we took on a few students. Minako’s studio relocated to the second floor of the rink, too, since we encouraged cross-training in dance so much. She didn’t close down her bar until she retired, though that was more because she’d have gone crazy if she didn’t have anything to do once she couldn’t dance anymore.”

Mari was understandably bemused at the thought of Minako being retired—the middle-aged woman practically embodied the word ‘energetic,’ and tilted her head thoughtfully.  
“Wait, who taught at the studio afterwards, then?”

She knew the answer as soon as her brother tensed slightly, and didn’t bother awaiting his response. “You, huh? While helping Viktor coach figure skaters? That’s a lot of work.”

“I was the most qualified.” Yūri admitted with a sheepish shrug, and Mari smiled at the rarity of Yūri giving himself credit where it was due. As anxious as he was (or had been) about pretty much everything else, his skill in dancing wasn’t something he’d ever been particularly self-conscious about. “I ended up studying dance at the University of Michigan when I was training in Detroit the first time. I took a fair few summer classes, so even though competitions made it difficult to keep on track, I managed to earn my degree a semester early.”

She noticed that he didn’t mention which level of degree he had earned, and resolved to ask Viktor once she was a little more comfortable around him. Considering how often he and Yūri talked, sometimes with Mari there as well, she had a feeling it would be sooner rather than later.

It wasn’t until later that night that she realized that Yūri had managed to distract her from the issue of Viktor basically funding them until Yūri had the opportunity to start bringing in income from sponsors and prize money.

Sneaky brat.


	9. Late Nights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! <3

_A blurry image appeared, and quiet, frustrated murmurs could be heard as the image slowly coming into focus._

_“There, that’s good enough.” He said, in English this time, before glancing straight into the camera. “Hello, to whoever ends up watching this. Thank you for lasting even this long, because I’m sure you all have better things to do.”_

_He offered a sheepish, self-deprecating grin. “So, for those of you who haven’t stopped watching yet, I should probably introduce myself. My name is Yūri Katsuki. I live in Japan, so here the name order is actually reversed, but I’m moving to America soon to train so I figure I should try and get used to the way it would be said there. That’s also why I’m speaking English, if you’re wondering. I’ll probably add in some Japanese subtitles or something, though.”_

_“I got this camera on my last birthday, and I wasn’t sure what to use it for…” Yūri said, rubbing the back of his neck and hoping he didn’t sound ungrateful. “At least, until I realized that I’m probably really going to miss home, and having videos I can watch when I feel homesick might help. I’ve been taking videos of my friends and family, too, since my sister will be acting as my guardian while my parents stay behind to run our family’s onsen—hot springs, in English. What was I getting at…oh well, those videos will probably be kept private. I’ll be traveling a lot over the next few years, though, so this channel might just turn into me documenting where I go and the things I find interesting about those places. My goal is to not be too much of a tourist when I travel, and maybe some of the people I meet will agree to be in a video with me to give advice on how not to be…you never know what cultural differences you might run into…”_

_A woman’s voice sounded in the background. “Y_ _ūri-kun!”_

_Y_ _ūri glanced away from the camera, already standing up to respond to the summons. “Ah, looks like I’ll have to end this here. Thanks for watching!”_

_The screen went black._

~

Yūri bit his lip as he finished watching the short video for the fourth time. As always, the flaws of it and things he could have done better jumped out at him, but he tried to push that feeling down.

At some point he had come to accept that sometimes, what seemed to be glaring mistakes to him, weren’t even noticed by anyone else. Not always, but enough that over the years he had relaxed slightly about this kind of thing.

For example, before he had met Viktor, he probably would have obsessed over this video for hours on end before deciding not to post it after all.

Now, however, he just sighed and clicked ‘upload,’ acknowledging the fact that it would now be on the internet forever.

But hey, at least he’d been gifted with a mostly clean slate on that front. The embarrassing things from his old life were now unknown to anyone aside from him, Viktor, and (in some cases) Mari, not that he doubted for a moment that eventually there would be new ones to take their place.

Not exactly something that could be avoided, with Viktor being the overly-affectionate, adorable, loving, _goofball_ that he was when it came to Yūri himself.

He bit his lip, shoulders slumping slightly as he had to fight the urge to call his husband, who had to be sleeping right now…

‘Or not.’ Yūri’s eyebrows raised in surprise as his cell phone went off, showing a number he’d quickly memorized. He didn’t hesitate to answer. “Vitya? What are you doing awake?”

 _“I miss you…”_ Viktor’s voice reflected honest pain and longing, which caused those same feelings in Yūri to get even stronger in response. _“So, so much. I just…needed to hear your voice.”_

“Oh, Viktor…I miss you, too.” Yūri tried and failed to keep his lower lip from trembling. “We’ve never been very good at being apart, have we?”

 _“No, we have not.”_ Viktor gave a wet laugh. _“Remember the first time?”_

“How could I forget?” Yūri muttered. “I’m so glad Makkachin was alright…still can’t bring myself to regret sending you back to see him, though.”

 _“I know you don’t.”_ Viktor said fondly, and unbeknownst to Yūri, the Russian felt like he was falling in love with him all over again. It was a very familiar feeling, though not one he’d ever really gotten used to, so he managed to continue his train of thought without a noticeable pause. _“Not two days apart, and when we reunited both of us just decided we needed to get married. I still can’t believe I didn’t realize that that really_ was _a proposal…not that our real engagement wasn’t perfect.”_

“To be fair, I didn’t realize the implication of what I was saying until you mentioned it.” Yūri chuckled. “I’d gotten so used to American proposals—Phichit made me watch a LOT of romantic comedies, being so much more extravagant I’d forgotten what’s typical for my own culture for that kind of thing.”

 _“So technically I’m the one who put the thought in your head?”_ Luckily, Viktor sounded more amused than anything.

“I mean, it had been bouncing around for a while, but I didn’t except it to actually happen.” Yūri explained with a shrug, and then put a hand up to stop Viktor from commenting on Yūri’s previous misunderstanding regarding their relationship, since Yūri had definitely long since realized that not only were their feelings completely mutual but the very idea of them not being together for the rest of their lives was laughable.

He couldn’t help a slight shudder at the realization that he might have had to relive his life without his Vitya being there with him. It would have been complete and utter agony.

Viktor seemed to realize that Yūri’s mind had wandered to a less pleasant topic, and some people might have been offended to see a horrified shudder from their spouse in the midst of a conversation about how they got engaged, but despite their issues with communication in the early days of their life together Viktor knew better than to assume that he was the reason for it.

 _"So what were you doing before I called?”_ he asked, deciding to try and pull Yūri away from those dark thoughts, whatever they were. He could have tried to comfort him more directly, but he had a feeling that this was one of those times when Yūri just needed Viktor to stand by him which Viktor obviously had no issue complying with.

“Ah, I finally got around to trying out this old thing.” Yūri picked up his camera to show the other. Not that it was actually old, but to them it was. “I…may or may not have put it on YouTube.”

 _“What?!”_ Viktor gasped, sounding utterly thrilled. _“That’s great! I want to watch it!”_

“Good luck finding it.” Yūri said with a tiny smirk. “There are a lot less videos than there were in our time, but that doesn’t—“

 _“Y_ _ūri, my love, I have practice tomorrow!”_ Viktor made sure to sound as heartbroken as possible, and Yūri couldn’t help but remember how lonely Viktor had sounded when he first called, which tugged right on his heartstrings. _“I’ll spend all night searching for it, you know this. Then I’ll go to practice on little to no sleep, and Yakov will—“_

“Geez, I get it!” Yūri cut him off, simultaneously fond and slightly exasperated as he tried to fight a smile. “My pseudonym is Katsukidon, okay?”

He didn’t know it, but over seven thousand kilometers away, Viktor clutched at his heart, trying not to ascend into heaven at the utter cinnamon roll (though definitely not the pure one he used to be) that he was lucky enough to have as a husband.

 _“How did I get so lucky?”_ Viktor whispered, in French.

Yūri blinked in surprise. He’d never managed to gain much proficiency in the language, despite visiting France a few times, so he didn’t really know what Viktor said.

“I don’t suppose you can repeat that in a language I can understand?” he asked dryly.

He wasn’t at all surprised when Viktor cheerfully declined.

‘Still,’ he thought, as he leaned against his bed and relaxed as Viktor’s voice seemed to envelop him in a shroud of safety and love. ‘How did I get so lucky?’

If only he knew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally thought to check what the 'rich text' meant when I posted this chapter.  
> *sigh* Ugh, I can be so lazy. To think, all this time I could've been using italics. Now I know.


	10. A Not-So New World

Yūri wonders what he was thinking, asking for their move to Detroit to be timed right after the block competition that would determine whether the Japanese Skating Federation (it was so strange getting used to the fact that he was now a complete unknown to them, considering he’d been the face of figure skating for the JSF even before Viktor started coaching him, though he didn’t quite mind the anonymity as that title wasn’t something he felt he had earned back then) would allow him to participate in the Junior Grand Prix series.

Of course, he had easily beaten out the competition with his level 4 step sequences, advanced presentation skills, and all of the triples he’d thrown in (he didn’t want to strain his body too much so had decided to leave out the quads for a while), earning the JSF’s stamp of approval and cementing his spot in the JGP. Granted, the junior Grand Prix allowed more participants than the senior division did, so of course there was that.

Still, even though regionals hadn’t exactly triggered his anxiety, Yūri felt like he couldn’t have chosen a worse time to make the move.

They’d chosen August to not only give them time to get their visas ready, but schedule it between regionals, so Yūri wouldn’t have to fly back for it, and the start of the school year in America, which was usually either late August or early September instead of April like in Japan.

Of course, then he’d gotten his assignments for the Junior Grand Prix series, and his first event, the JGP qualifying competition in Courchevel, France (he’d have to ask Viktor to translate a few phrases for him), was in late August. He wouldn’t even be able to make it to his new school’s orientation because of it.

Anyway, that was only part of it.

Packing for himself was one thing, simple enough after the number of times he’d had to do it in the previous timeline, but Mari? She was having a bit more trouble deciding between what was necessary, what she wanted to bring, and what she could easily replace once they got there in order to avoid having to ship more of their things, since she still felt strangely about Viktor paying for it.

Their parents and Minako kept giving them well-meaning advice on how to survive alone, which was odd because his parents had never done any traveling outside of Japan aside from seeing him skate at that on particularly memorable Cup of China where Viktor kissed him the first time. They dealt with tourists, sure, but some of their advice was based more on stereotypes than anything.

Minako had traveled more during her career as a ballerina, but aside from making sure that both Mari and Yūri knew how to throw a punch and fight back enough to get away if someone attacked, she mostly teased just teased them. Especially Mari when she realized that though she was of legal age to drink in Japan, she’d have to wait a bit until she could in America.

Yūri fought a laugh as he remembered his sister look at him with betrayal in her eyes before muttering how she should have thought of that.

~

Minako stared in contemplation at her most prized student.

Yūri had changed early in the year, maturing seemingly overnight and inexplicably managing to deal with his anxiety issues better, though Minako could tell they hadn’t gone away entirely.

Normally she would’ve chalked it up to puberty and hormones, considering his age, and maybe that was part of it, but…

“Minako-sensei!” Yūri lowered his head, bowing slightly with his hand clasped in front of him. “Please act as my coach during competitions!”

But puberty was not sufficient enough of an explanation for _this._

“What?” Minako’s eyes widened. “Yūri…”

“I didn’t think I’d actually make it to the Grand Prix this year, so I didn’t try and get anyone to coach me for it.” Yūri said sheepishly, hoping that Minako didn’t realize that he was lying about that. “It’s too late, for this season at least. You’ve been my teacher since I could walk, so you know how to…how to motivate me.”

“Yūri…” the older woman said, mouth open in shock. “I don’t know enough about figure skating to—“

“I don’t need you to teach me any techniques.” Yūri shook his head immediately. “I have a handle on that part. I’m not asking you to come to Detroit with me, just…be there. Believe I can make it. Mari is going to be busy with school, so she won’t always be able to come to competitions with me, especially the international ones. You told me you were already going to make a point to come to my competitions this year, so why not be rink-side with me?”

Minako floundered as she tried to figure out how to respond. Idly, she noticed the bewildering teenager tap thoughtfully at his lip.

“Maybe you could even get some of the skaters’ phone numbers…” he ‘mused.’

From there, it was little wonder she hadn’t been able to say no.

~

Yūri’s heart clenched as he remembered his goodbyes to his parents, which was somehow worse than it was the first time around, even though this time he didn’t have nearly as much anxiety about moving to a country where so few spoke his native tongue.

Yūko and Takeshi had even thrown him a small party at Ice Castle, nothing much, just some snacks and messing around on the ice, but it meant the world to him. He’d even managed to slip in a suggestion for Takeshi to make a move already, since he was getting slightly antsy about the triplets the longer their future parents remained unattached.

One thing was for sure: he would definitely be visiting often enough to see the triplets grow up, unlike when he’d seen them suddenly six years old when his last memories of them were newborns.

Maybe he could even figure out a way to help his oldest friends out in other ways, he mused, remembering how they’d had a hard time with their finances. The amount they had spent on diapers alone…

But Yūri could worry about that later.

For now, the flight attendant was staring at him expectantly…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys liked it! <3
> 
> Sorry for the disappointment in the not-so teary goodbyes. Light-hearted fluff is one thing, but non-romance related touchy-feely interactions aren't something I'm particularly good at.
> 
> Oh, and Yuuri's programs will be revealed at some point later. Once I figure out what I want him to skate to...
> 
> *It can be a huge pain to find any information about the junior division events, aside from their Grand Prix series and Junior Worlds. If (when) I get things wrong in how it works, I promise it’s not from lack of trying, I just haven’t been able to find much information about juniors. The bigger competitions have more easily accessible info, but things like the junior divisions of Japan’s regionals or nationals? I know that for nationals, at the very least, are held separately than the seniors. All I was able to find for even the junior nationals was the cities and medalists over the years. For now I’ll just assume that there IS a regionals competition Yūri can compete in at fourteen. I have the dates right for the Junior Grand Prix series, but I don't know when the regionals would have been.


	11. Bonus Scenes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!
> 
> Here's a few scenes I didn't think to write until they were already on their way to Detroit, but I figured I'd post them anyway.
> 
> Enjoy!

**Bonus Scenes:**

Yūri’s English teacher raised an eyebrow in surprise as he noticed that Katsuki-san’s scores had improved drastically since last year, not only in pronunciation and comprehension, but he seemed to have no issues whatsoever with reading or writing, either.

The young skater (his ambitions were hardly a secret in a town as small as Hasetsu) had already been in the top percentile in his class, taking the lessons more seriously than perhaps anyone else as apparently communicating in English instead of native tongues was common during figure skating competitions, but he had gone from passable to fluent.

How on earth…?

Well, he might never get an answer to that, since the Katsuki siblings were in the process of moving to America (he hoped the boy’s sister was at least half as proficient in the language), but he did regret that he had lost such a dedicated student…

~

“Yūri…” Hiroko started hesitantly, trying to understand what she was seeing. “Are you…okay?”

“Yes…” Yūri answered slowly, looking confused. “Why?”

“You’re putting jam in your tea.” She said after a moment.

Yūri froze. “Ah. Yes. It’s, um…”

He looked towards Mari helplessly, but she just shrugged at him.

“That’s a Russian thing.” Minako narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously.

She had decided to have dinner at the onsen to give herself more opportunities to figure out what had changed with Yūri, and this caught her attention.

“Is it?” Yūri tilted his head, trying to play it off. “I saw something about it online. On Twitter, I think.”

“What, from Viktor Nikiforov’s page?” Minako mumbled in English.

Yūri’s parents didn’t speak English very well, but they laughed along as their son flushed slightly. It didn’t take a genius to be able to get the gist of what she was saying when they heard the name of the man their son had idolized.

Yūri huffed, annoyed with himself for his tendency to blush easily.

~

Mari froze as something occurred to her.

She couldn’t BELIEVE she hadn’t put it together until now, but…

“YUURI!” she practically screamed, shattering her usual chill persona.

It only took a few moments before her brother came crashing into the room in a full sprint, barely stopping himself from ramming into the furniture.

“What?!” he demanded, looking around the room for any indication of a threat.

Mari blinked up at him, belatedly realizing that she probably shouldn’t have screeched like she was being attacked.

“Er…” she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “Don’t worry, nothing’s wrong. I just…had a question for you.”

Yūri looked at her with uncharacteristic exasperation. “What question could possibly have made you scream that loudly?”

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is coming out next year!” Mari waved her arms in the air wildly, causing her brother to back away lest he be hit by a stray limb. “I need to know—does Voldemort die?! What about that bitch Lestrange?”

Her eyes widened. “Does _HARRY_ die?! Does he get back together with Ginny? Dumbledore didn’t tell Harry about all of the Horcruxes, so does he find them all?! What about—“

“Mari.” Her brother interrupted. “I’m not going to spoil the ending for you. You would kill me.”

She quieted slightly with a pout, earning a fond smile from Yūri.

If anything could pull out a reaction like this from her, it would be her favorite book series. Not that Yūri blamed her. There was a _reason_ it was so loved.

He _could_ mention that after the books and movies ended there would be more surprises, such as the Pottermore website, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme parks in Florida, California, and even Japan, and the existence of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them series…but then she’d have to wait years for them, and he wasn't that cruel.

Still, he and Viktor would have to bring her to Florida to visit after the park opened. He’d heard it was the best out of the three locations. By that point, Yurio would be training under Yakov, too, so they could bring him along, along with Mila, Georgi, Phichit…actually, they might as well invite everyone.

~

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3


	12. The Japanese Enigma

Whispers followed as the new Japanese transfer student gracefully opened his locker, removing his textbooks and moving onto his next class.

The student population wasn’t very used to international students, so his arrival had brought a lot of attention to him, not that he seemed to notice.

(He did, he was just fairly adept at pretending he didn’t due to his experience with fans over the years, but they didn’t know that.)

Yūri Katsuki was…not what they had expected.

First of all, he was fluent in English.

When he’d been introduced in his first class, it wasn’t with the heavily accented, broken English that everyone but the teacher (who had already met him when he was evaluated to see if he was ready for her class) had thought he'd speak, but smooth. He seemed to have a slight issue with the letter ‘L’, sounding more like an ‘R’, but aside from that his words were perfectly clear.

When the physical education teachers had the students go through what most of the students considered hellish workouts, Yūri outstripped _every single person_ in his class (the boy could do sit-ups like nobody’s business, and holy shit did he have stamina to spare!), despite being smaller and younger than the others.

Which, actually, was the next thing on the list of confounding things.

Yūri was a fourteen-year-old, so everyone had assumed that he would be a freshman or sophomore, but instead he had been registered as a junior, which the school only allowed when the boy agreed to sit some exams to make sure he could handle skipping a grade.

Needless to say, he passed with flying colors.

Once again, this raised some eyebrows, but Japan _was_ known for its intense educational system, so they assumed it was just because of that.

When it came out that his sister was acting as his legal guardian, people wondered.

The guess that he was an orphan was disproved when he answered a call from home and someone who watched anime and happened to know the word for ‘mother’ overheard, and they ruled out things like abandonment and child abuse purely due to the happiness on his face when he spoke with her.

(Teenagers and their wild imaginations, honestly.)

Eventually, someone was brave enough to actually _ask_ him, and within hours the majority of the students were aware that his parents had let him train and go to school in America under his sister’s care, which…honestly, raised more questions.

Train for _what,_ exactly?

It wasn’t until morning announcements a few weeks after the start of the term that they found out, being gifted with a small piece of the puzzle that was Yūri Katsuki.

Apparently, he had not only participated in a figure skating competition (?!) on the other side of the _world_ (?!?!), but he had placed GOLD (?!?!?!).

When people started swarming him, offering their congratulations, the young teen simply blushed and said that it was only the junior division, but he did make sure to thank them for their support.

If only they knew how jealous Yūri’s fans in the other timeline, or at least the ones that had met him prior to Viktor barreling into his life, would be if they knew that Yūri was now willing to accept such things instead of blushing and avoidance.

He’d actually had a reputation for it, not that he’d realized it until much later on in life when everyone started freaking out when he started becoming more open to his fans. Now because of being thrown back in time, Yūri wouldn’t even develop that reputation.

If nothing else, the Minako from the original timeline would be pleased.

Yūri was an enigma, one that had people falling for him left and right (not that they had a chance in hell, but they didn’t know that yet), and the worst part?

He didn’t even seem to _realize it._

And this time it wasn’t an act, he just really was that oblivious about the reason behind the attention.

Those poor, doomed souls.

They never stood a chance.

~


	13. Time Moves Forward...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap!
> 
> Wow, that last chapter got an unprecedented amount of comments. Woke up to way more than I had anticipated--do you guys get enough sleep? (Who am I kidding? None of us do, I'm sure.)
> 
> Anyway, thank you very much for taking the time to leave feedback!

Yūri slumped onto the bench, panting heavily and reaching for his water bottle as he took a short break from working on his step sequences.

He was currently at the ice rink where he knew that Celestino had frequented at this time in his life before moving to the rink where Yūri had initially trained with him.

See, he figured that Celestino had been a huge influence on him in the original timeline, and it had been through him that he met Phichit, who had become his closest friend and eventually his best man at his and Viktor’s wedding.

At the very least, he wanted to build some sort of friendship with him, and so he had decided to practice in places he knew Celestino might find him, because it would probably seem a bit weird if he actively sought the older man out.

Maybe, if Celestino did find him, and if he did well enough in the junior division this season (even Yūri admitted to himself that with the huge advantage he had he was very unlikely to do poorly), maybe he would approach Yūri with an offer to coach him…

Yūri pondered the logistics of that.

Coaching with Celestino from, most likely, fifteen years old (if it happened at all), since he didn’t foresee an offer before the Junior Grand Prix Final at the very earliest.

The first time around, Yūri had been under his tutelage for 5 years, but this time he couldn’t imagine staying in Detroit for too long after he turned 18, just maybe stay for the rest of the season.

But Phichit had only entered Yūri’s life when he was 20, because Phichit, like Yūri, hadn’t started training under the man until he was 18, and he was a few years younger than Yūri himself.

This was so complicated…

Would it be possible to convince Celestino to take on Phichit earlier than he had originally?

He’d need to have a legal guardian like Mari was for Yūri, since he’d also be underage. Would Celestino fill that position? Maybe a member of Phichit’s family would move with him like Mari had for Yūri?

Ugh.

This was going to drive him crazy.

Until then, however, he could at least reach out to the younger boy over social media. Phichit might be younger than the age ‘requirements’ for those websites, but Yūri didn’t doubt for a second that his friend (friend-to-be?) was already active on them.

~

Georgi’s facial muscles twitched as his rinkmate, as he had been constantly for _months_ , wailed dramatically and went on about how amazing his lover was.

If he had to hear about the mystery man’s step sequences (best in the world, apparently) _one more time…_

Honestly, he hoped he never got this invested in someone, because it was making Viktor look ridiculous.

Oh, if only he knew…

~

Meanwhile, dozens of students at Yūri’s high school had their hearts broken (or at least cracked) by the ever-oblivious Katsuki Yūri.

See, many people had hoped that he would ask them to the Homecoming dance (or were trying to gather the courage to ask him themselves), but then when someone had brought it up in front of him to try and feel him out, he’d mentioned that he would be participating in one of the Junior Grand Prix qualifiers that day. Considering the qualifier was in the Netherlands... 

They were excited for him, because how could they not be glad for anything that put that sweet smile on the boy’s face?

That being said, they wished the event organizers had better timing…

~

Needless to say, Yūri brought back another gold medal, and though he didn’t realize it, Celestino had in fact notice his presence at the ice rink he was using, and was contemplating making an offer to the promising young skater who seemed to be shattering world records in the junior division…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The real-life high school in Detroit whose website I'm looking to for a bit of information had their Homecoming dance on October 8th for this school year. I was initially going to keep that the same, but it was pointed out to me by harlequinblueflag (thanks again!) that October 8, 2006 was a Sunday, and most American high schools have theirs on Friday or Saturday, so I changed it to a day earlier.
> 
> But yeah, the JGP qualifier ‘The Hague’ went from October 5-7th in 2006, which is the current year in the story. Even if the time zones put the Netherlands earlier than Detroit...yeah, that's not happening.


	14. The Hague

_(During The Hague qualifier)_

_Minako inhaled sharply as Yūri landed a perfect triple axel seemingly effortlessly as his last jump before flowing into perhaps the most complicated step sequence she had ever seen._

_As her prized student ended his free skate with a flourish, perfectly synchronized with the end of the music, she felt like her heart was about to burst._

_Yūri’s decision to follow the career of a figure skater had seemed to put an end to any possible career as a professional dancer, and Minako didn’t begrudge him in the slightest because it obviously meant the world to him, but it did her heart good to see that he still had the heart and soul of a danseur._

_Even if his jumps hadn’t gone as well as they had, Minako was sure that he would have easily made the podium, if not first place. After all, who could possibly ignore the kid’s skill and performance ability? She wouldn’t be surprised if his performance components score (PCS) eclipsed his technical elements score (TES), even with that triple axel._

_When the score came up, her jaw dropped._

_So did everyone else’s, aside from Yūri himself, who just hummed thoughtfully with a determined look in his eye, almost…_

_Almost as if he knew he could do better, and was fully intending to make sure he did._

_Like breaking a world record wasn’t enough._

_He’d already broken the one for the short program, but no, of course he hadn’t stopped there. He had followed with breaking the junior’s free skate record, and obviously by doing both he’d shattered the overall record that was the two scores combined._

_She knew her kid (well, he was the closest she had, anyway) had a boatload of potential, and ambition to match, but even she couldn’t have expected this._

_Minako prayed he didn’t try and include any quads before he was ready. Pushing his body that much at such a young age, with such a physically demanding sport…that could really mess a person up. Minako had seen some of her peers in the ballet fall victim to that, herself._

_Her eyes took on a determined glint._

_If there was one thing she wanted to pass on to Yūri as his temporary, sort-of coach, it was to take care of himself as much as he possibly could._

_She of course had no way of knowing that Yūri had no intention of forcing those quads for another two or three years, preferring to wait until his upcoming growth spurt had settled and he’d regained full control of his body, but he would appreciate her concern._

~

“So, Katsuki-san, you’ve made it to the Junior Grand Prix Finals…” someone shouted. “Are you looking forward to it?”

“Of course.” Yūri nodded. “I’ve heard Sofia is beautiful around this time of year.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you get into figure skating?” a female journalist asked expectantly.

“Ah…” Yūri blinked slowly, turning thoughtful. “Well, I started ice skating because one of my old neighbors in Japan invited me to the rink her family owns. I was never very good at making friends, so I took that as an opportunity, and before I knew it I’d fallen in love with the ice and had made a pair of what I’m sure will be life-long friends. My mentor, Okukawa Minako, ended up seeing me skate and encouraged me to learn more, even though it took some time away from our dance lessons. After a while I started landing single jumps, and then my friend Yūko-chan showed me a clip of Viktor Nikiforov’s free skate for his last junior worlds. Obviously, it was amazing. I don’t know if there’s a single figure skater in the men’s division, and probably quite a few skaters in the other disciplines, that doesn’t look up to him at least a little. That’s probably what made me go from casual skating for fun to actual figure skating…”

“So Viktor Nikiforov is the reason you decided to start competing?” another reported asked quickly.

“In a way, I guess…” Yūri’s eyebrows furrowed. “It would be nice to skate on the same ice as him once I join the senior division. There’s also the fact that…my family has sacrificed a lot for me to be able to keep skating. The expenses…it’s a lot. I was very lucky in Hasetsu because Yūko-chan’s family agreed to give me a heavy discount to use their rink to practice, because they’re amazing people. Still, there are always other things. Skates, for example. When you’re doing triple jumps, you need a pair of skates that can support your landing, and rental skates don’t do that. Competing feels like a way to…to show them that I’m grateful for the support they’ve always given me. Not that competing doesn’t bring even more expenses, with travel and costumes.”

He sighed. Originally it had gotten easier when he started getting sponsors, but it had still been really tight. At least this time his family wasn't bearing the brunt of the cost, since Viktor had insisted on doing it himself, though they'd pretended that it was a college scholarship Mari had earned that paid for their apartment. Minako wouldn't have bought that, but she hadn't caught on to the fact that they weren't funding their son themselves anymore.

Anyway, in the original timeline, of course, Yūri’s main goal _had_ been just to skate on the same ice as Viktor, but from his and Viktor’s perspective he’d already done that, and had been doing so for years, so he made the decision to mention one of the reasons he’d _kept_ skating after fulfilling that dream.

Aside from, you know, wanting to stay in figure skating with Viktor for as long as they possibly could, but he could hardly let on to that. Not for a few more years, at least.

“How do you think Nikiforov is going to react when he finds out that you broke his world records?” Morooka-san, Yūri’s staunchest ally in the world of journalism back in the original timeline, inquired curiously.

Yūri had wondered when he’d speak up. He’d missed his enthusiasm for the sport.

“Ah, he’ll probably start pouting that he can’t come back to juniors to overwrite my scores.” He said with an open grin, causing a few of the younger press conference attendees to swoon slightly, though as usual Yūri didn’t even notice. “If his Twitter is anything to go by, he’s pretty dramatic…”

“But you don’t think he’ll be mad?” someone else wondered aloud.

“No.” Yūri shook his head, and was about to continue when he was interrupted by someone from the audience.

 _“Viktor Nikiforov tweeted his congratulations!”_ she screeched, and then flinched sheepishly as she realized how loud she’d been, before continuing more quietly. “He said he can’t wait to compete against you in seniors!”

Yūri flinched at the sudden uproar.

Viktor couldn’t have waited until the press conference was over?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Yurio scene!


	15. Enter Yurio: Stage Right

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: Yuri is currently 6 years old. He doesn't yet have the responsibility of being the sole provider for his family, but in this story his grandfather is still his guardian. Yuri only mentioned his mom once in his thoughts, and it was about how she wasn't there for him, if I remember correctly, so I'm not going to bother with her right now.

Yuri huffed in indignation as his ballet instructor stopped paying attention to him and focused more on whatever stupid thing was on the television this time.

She was being paid to _teach him_ , so why was her attention somewhere else?

Ugh.

Maybe he should ask his grandfather to find him a new instructor…

He relaxed his body from the ridiculous pose it had previously been in and stormed up to the teenager who dared call herself an instructor to demand she do her damn job, but then he caught sight of what had captured her attention…and found himself riveted as well.

On the screen, a young teenager with dark hair and eyes stood on the ice, and a voice over in English sounded as his performance began.

Yuri didn’t know any English, but he did manage to catch what he assumed to be the boy’s name.

Another Yuri?

The boy’s name was written underneath in the roman alphabet, but of course Yuri was only familiar with the Cyrillic alphabet, so he didn’t catch that their names were written a bit differently.

He watched as the boy who shared his name swept across the ice, moving fluidly, quickly, _gracefully,_ and Yuri could sense the hidden strength behind the boy’s every move, almost like…a tiger.

“Wow.” Yuri murmured quietly, eyes widening in awe as he watched this other ‘Yuri’ soar through the air as if he would never come back down.

Now, Yuri had seen figure skating before. In fact, he was considering switching from ballet, after seeing Viktor Nikiforov’s program at the Olympics earlier in the year, and seeing how everyone seemed to respect him, which was something Yuri had always wanted.

Nikiforov was good, fantastic even.

But this dark haired boy…he was better.

Well, maybe not yet. He was still a bit too small to pull off some of the jumps the older kids could, but aside from that he outperformed them all.

Yuri wasn’t surprised when it was announced that the other boy had beaten Nikiforov’s record. He didn’t quite know what that meant, but from the context he figured out that it meant he had done better than the Russian skater had ever managed in the junior division.

He was brought out of his musings slowly when he realized that his ‘instructor’ was murmuring something in English.

“Oh my god oh my god oh my—“ she didn’t stop.

“Shut up!” Yuri snapped, annoyed.

First, she didn’t teach him like she was supposed to, and now she was distracting him from the person that had caught his attention when he’d given up on her?

The nerve of some people, honestly!

She looked back at him in surprise, and her eyes widened in horror as she realized (finally) that she was not supposed to be engrossed in the television right now.

“I’m so sorry, Yuri!” she squealed in a high-pitched voice, which made Yuri flinch, causing her to lower her pitch slightly. “I just…”

Yuri scowled.

She swallowed, but noticed that his eyes kept straying back to the screen, where Katsuki Yūri was shown being hugged by his coach.

Ah.

So he hadn’t been entirely unaffected by the Japanese boy’s masterful performance, then.

“See, this was just on in the background during our lesson, and before that skater’s program I heard the name of a famous ballerina.” She explained, hoping that he would accept her excuse. “Okukawa Minako. She received one of the most prestigious honors in the ballet world, the _Benois de la Danse._ Apparently she coached that skater, Katsuki Yūri, or however you pronounce it…the commentators mentioned she’s been his dance teacher basically since he could walk. I just…had to see how ballet would translate over into figure skating.”

Yuri paused at that.

The girl in front of him was pretty hopeless as a teacher (didn’t she already know that ballet was already something that many figure skaters had experience in?), and she had almost caused him to give up on it completely, but if what she said was right, then more ballet lessons could come in handy later on.

After all, this other ‘Yuri’s’ performance had cemented Yuri’s decision to switch over to figure skating (he had only just decided this), and if ballet had given the older boy the sort of presence that reminded Yuri of a _tiger_ , his favorite animal of all time, then…

Maybe ballet wasn’t such a waste of time after all.

Older ‘Yuri’ better watch out, because someday Yuri was going to be an even better tiger!

He’d still have to ask his grandfather to find him a new ballet teacher, though.

Yuri Plisetsky was not one to suffer fools lightly.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eventually Yuri P will realize Yuuri Katsuki's name isn't exactly the same as his, but at the moment he only knows Russian, which of course utilizes the Cyrillic alphabet, so he can't tell.


	16. In Which Yakov's Hair is a Casualty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Yakov realizes just who Viktor's been obsessing over, nearly having a heart attack in the process, and discovers that maybe there is some hope for the both of them, after all...

Viktor hummed happily to himself as he got on the ice for his free skate, catching his darling husband’s eyes from where Yūri was sitting in the audience with Mari.

He hadn’t been able to make it to Hartford, Connecticut (the host of Skate America this year) in time to see Viktor’s short program, but luckily they’d been able to catch a flight to make it to see the tail end of the competition, going straight to the airport the moment Yūri’s school let out on Friday.

Since the Men’s free skate event was on Saturday, and the distance was only a thousand kilometers or so, the Katsuki siblings had even had time to have dinner with Viktor, who had managed to slip away from Yakov.

Viktor had, of course, felt his coach’s ire the next morning, but didn’t feel an ounce of regret.

He’d swim through an ocean of lava if he had to do so in order to see his Yūri, so a mere three-hour lecture sure as hell didn’t stand a chance.

~

“Yūri Katsuki!” someone shouted as Yūri made to leave the arena, intending to find Viktor later, since he couldn’t exactly meet up with him right now.

Yūri jumped in shock at the loud noise _right_ next to his ear.

“Ah, yes…?” He said slowly, turning to the person who’d made the offensive noise with a slight wince, barely refraining from reaching his hands up to his ears to try and stop the ringing. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but shouldn’t you be focusing on the participating skaters…?”

“What are you doing here? Viktor Nikiforov just won gold, are you going to challenge him? Were you intending to join the senior division next season?” the reporter asked quickly as he ignored Yūri’s words, trying not to give Yūri time to think his answers through.

“One at a time, please.” Yūri said a bit dryly, blinking at the typical onslaught of questions. “My sister and I figured we should come cheer on the senior skaters—all of them, not just Viktor Nikiforov—since Hartford is a short flight from where we’re living right now. We had the opportunity to see the NHK Trophy a couple of years ago, so why not take the same opportunity with Skate America?”

The reporter nodded a bit dismissively. “Yes, yes, I’m sure you’ve also gained a sense of what the senior Grand Prix series is like. Which will become useful very soon, I hope…”

Yūri raised an eyebrow at the complete and utter lack of subtlety. “I’m sure it will come in handy, at some point, but at the moment I’m focusing more on the competitions I’m actually old enough for.”

“Ah…right.” The reporter winced as he remembered that 15 was the minimum age for the senior division. “When is your birthday again?”

“Next month.” Yūri answered with an almost unnoticeable sigh, resigned to the impromptu interview as Mari snickered from behind him.

“You could enter your Nationals as a senior, then!” the guy suggested cheerfully. “Maybe Four Continents and Worlds, too!”

Yūri twitched at this guy’s nerve. “I…suppose there’s a chance I might be invited to compete in Japan’s senior nationals if I do well enough in the junior competition, that’s happened before, but the Four Continents championship? Worlds? It’s not unheard of for seniors to participate in junior events if they’re under the age limit, but I’m not so sure about the other way around…honestly, I’d rather just focus on making my first season in the junior circuit a good one.”

“You said first, but not last?” the guy’s shoulders slumped.

“I haven’t decided yet.” Yūri shrugged lightly. “That’s a decision I’ll have to make with my coach.”

“But you technically don’t have a coach!” the guy honest to god _whined._

Yūri’s eye twitched once again. “Then we’ll just have to wait and see. I’m not in any particular rush.”

~

“…Mari eventually took pity on me and dragged me away.” Yūri finished his recount of the unexpected encounter to Viktor.

Viktor smiled fondly at his love as the younger teen closed his eyes in pleasure, popping a bite of the now customary victory bowl of katsudon in his mouth.

“This tastes just like mom’s…” Mari muttered dubiously, taking a bite of her own.

“She taught me how to make it.” Viktor explained with a beaming smile. “It’s not _exactly_ the same, but Yūri’s certainly given me plenty of opportunities to make it for him over the years!”

“Don’t act like it’s not your favorite, too.” Yūri rolled his eyes fondly, using his chopsticks to ward off Viktor’s attempt at stealing some of his food.

“I would never betray my beloved katsudon!” Viktor declared with a wink.

Mari wondered about the slight flush on her brother’s face, but in the long run decided that she really didn’t want to know.

~

The next night, after Viktor tearfully saw his Yūri off at the airport so he could get back to Detroit in time for school on Monday and got back to the hotel to pack for his own flight to Russia the next morning, he heard a knock on his door.

Blinking in surprise, having expected to be left alone until it was time to leave in the morning, Viktor slowly crept up to the door and opened it.

“VIKTOR NIKIFOROV!” Yakov seethed in fury, thrusting the laptop he was carrying in his student’s face. “You have BETTER have a good explanation for this!”

Viktor blinked. “Yakov, you’re holding it too close to my face for me to see…”

The older man twitched, barely stopping himself from knocking the insolent boy upside the head, but did end up moving the device back a foot.

Viktor’s eyes lit up at the image of him with his arms around Yūri, pecking him on the forehead.

“Aw, they got our good sides, too!” Viktor cooed. Well, every side was a good side when it came to him and Yūri, but still. “Yakov, you have to send this to me! It’s about time I got a new background—“

“VITYA!” Yakov shouted. “WHAT IN GOD’S NAME WERE YOU THINKING?! The boy is not only going to be major competition for you very soon, but he is FOURTEEN YEARS OLD!!! You’ll be accused of--”

“Calm down, Yūri’s older sister was with us the entire time.” Viktor interrupted calmly. “I’m sure Mari-neechan will be willing to attest to the fact that that forehead kiss was the most intimate contact we shared.”

Yakov did relax a tiny bit at that, recalling that the article _had_ mentioned an older Japanese woman had been with them every time they’d been sighted together.

He’d have to look up what ‘neechan’ meant later. Until then…

“You don’t seem particularly bothered by what they’re implying with these pictures!” Yakov snapped.

“Of course I’m not.” Viktor looked at him oddly. “Yūri’s going to be my husband someday.”

Yakov tilted to the side, barely stopping himself from colliding headfirst into the wall. He clutched at his heart with the hand that wasn’t holding him up, wondering if this was what a heart attack felt like.

“M-marry…” he sputtered. “He’s a _child_ —“

Okay, so Yakov didn’t actually think of the Japanese skater as a child, despite his age. The boy seemed very mature and remarkably independent from what he’d seen of him in interviews, which actually made it easier to accept that Viktor, who was technically an adult, was interested in a boy who wasn't even old enough to compete in the senior division yet.

“Well, obviously not now.” Viktor rolled his eyes. “We’ll start dating publicly when he turns sixteen, and then get married sometime after he turns eighteen. Incidentally, I’m not intending to do anything more physical than kisses and hugs until then. That’s the age of consent in Japan, after all, and I’m not about to do anything to jeopardize my chances of getting his parents’ approval…we’ll need their consent if we decide to marry before he’s twenty, you see…”

“Does Katsuki know you’re planning this?” Yakov asked, feeling dizzier than when he himself had been an active skater and had last done gravity-defying spins.

“Well yeah, he would have to, wouldn’t he?” Viktor answered with a laugh. “We’re thinking a Spring wedding in Japan, with the sakura trees in full bloom. Oh, and next time one of us is in Spain we’ll pick up our engagement rings…”

Yakov sank down to the floor as his legs gave up on him.

His student, at eighteen years old, was completely serious about making one of the biggest commitments a person possibly could, going so far as to make plans for a wedding that couldn’t even _happen_ for another few years…

He thought back to his own relationship troubles with his beloved Lilia, caused almost entirely by the two of them focusing more on their careers than the other.

Maybe…maybe he could learn a thing or two from his student, not that he’d ever tell Viktor that.

If such an overdramatic, emotionally-inept figure skater could be so dedicated to his own love interest (Yakov decided to trust his student when he said nothing inappropriate was going on), then why shouldn’t he himself be able to mend the near-broken bridges in his own marriage?

“How long have you even known this boy?” Yakov heard a voice ask, and it took him a moment to realize that it was his own.

“Oh, we met a _long_ time ago.” Viktor answered, knowing that Yakov would assume he meant months (after all, Viktor had a tendency to exaggerate) instead of the _decades_ Viktor was actually alluding to. “How do you think I became fluent in Japanese?”

Yakov’s head slumped as he gave a groan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure whether or not I should save Yakov and Lilia's marriage, considering we don't know why their ended up divorced (though for all I know they were already divorced at this point in canon), but it's a possibility.


	17. Someone's About to Lose Their Job

Yūri dropped his cell phone in shock as a high-pitched (and he meant glass-shattering) scream erupted from the device.

‘What the hell?!’ he thought to himself warily, before…recognizing the phone number. ‘Oh. Oops.’

“Yūko-chan, could you maybe calm down a bit?” Yūri called into the receiver dryly, hoping that his voice was loud enough for her to hear, not yet daring to pick the phone back up yet. “I kind of need to be able to hear the music when I skate…”

Well, okay, he was perfectly capable of skating his programs without needing the music to keep the timing right, but you get the point.

“Yūri-kun, quit teasing me!” he eventually heard at a normal volume, and deemed it safe to pick the phone back up, at least for the time being. “Why didn’t you tell me you know Viktor Nikiforov?!”

“Eh…” Yūri blinked, wondering idly how she’d found out. “Because I wanted to be sure it wasn’t some elaborate dream I’d cooked up, and I didn’t want anyone shattering the illusion?”

Half-lie, considering sometimes it really did feel like that.

“Explain.” She demanded, and Yūri sighed.

Thank god he and Viktor had already thought of a cover story.

“Well, it started when I looked him up on Twitter back in February…”

~

Chris paused in lacing up his skates, having glanced at his laptop (he’d been intending to use it to play some music he didn’t have a CD for) and caught sight of a certain someone’s name in a rather scandalous sounding headline.

**Olympic Medalist Viktor Nikiforov Seduces Up and Coming Junior?**

…What the hell?

His eyebrows furrowed as he clicked on the link.

The Swiss skater read the article carefully, relieved to find that, despite the accompanying image, there was no actual evidence that the Russian champion was actually a pervert (thank fuck, otherwise he’d have to try and castrate the man next time he saw him, and Chris wasn’t a fan of blood), especially considering the pair had been in the presence of a chaperone.

‘If a forehead kiss is enough to be considered seduction, people are going to get heart attacks when they see my routines for next year.’ Chris thought to himself with a relieved snort. ‘The title is just click-bait…’

That being said…Nikiforov’s smile _did_ look far more genuine than he’d ever seen it.

Maybe the article was on to something…well, not the ‘seduce’ part, but the fact that Viktor was interested in Japan’s new prodigy.

Chris wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

He’d had a bit of a crush on the Russian for a couple of years, ever since Viktor had thrown one of the flowers he’d received to Christophe and said he’d look forward to competing against him on the ice. The older teen had acted like he _knew_ Chris had the potential to get there, even when Chris himself didn’t know if he’d last past the junior division, and the urge to compete against (and hopefully defeat) Viktor the driving force behind his skating.

So, it stung a bit, to see the gray-haired skater look at Katsuki with so much adoration, like nothing else in the world mattered.

He almost felt bitter, honestly, but…Viktor had never hinted at or promised him a damn thing; his crush had just started because of a few encouraging words.

If he held this against Viktor, or even Katsuki, then he would be no better than Chris’ own fangirls and fanboys who thought they had a right to him.

If nothing else, though, Christophe _did_ want to be Viktor’s friend, become a pillar of support to thank Viktor for his encouragement, and though he hadn’t been planning to speak with him again until next year when Chris joined the senior division, he _could_ feel out Katsuki to make sure he didn’t have bad intentions.

After all, both of them had qualified for the Junior Grand Prix Finals, so it wasn’t like he’d be lacking in opportunity.

~

Celestino tapped his chin thoughtfully as he saw a recording of Katsuki Yūri’s programs at The Hague, where he’d more than cemented his place at the finals.

He’d noticed the young teenager before at the ice rink Celestino himself frequented, but he had never asked for his name, and as such hadn’t realized he was in the competitive circuit until he’d seen the boy take his glasses off (and here he’d thought Clark Kent’s glasses disguise to hide that he was Superman was laughable, but no, it really could make a world of difference) and skate to the programs he’d used at the Courchevel qualifier back in August.

He’d already been considering offering himself up as a coach when it was discovered that the woman seen with him at competitions was more of a stand-in, but it wasn’t until the boy’s second qualifier that it became something he was _going_ to do instead of a possibility.

He did wonder, though.

On the one hand, the kid was extraordinarily talented (shattering three world records in as many days, holy shit), apparently capable enough to deal with what Celestino called ambush interviews, _and_ he was already living in Detroit.

On the other, since the kid had mentioned that his older sister was the one acting as his legal guardian while they were in Detroit, Celestino might have to go to Japan to gain his parents’ consent and to hash out the details if the boy accepted (he was obviously going to ask the skater himself to see if he was even interested first). There was also the fact that there was a bit of a scandal involving Russia’s Ace and the boy after they’d been photographed together at Skate of America, one of Nikiforov’s own Grand Prix qualifiers.

Then again, those rumors had been firmly shut down by the involved parties, including an irate Mari Katsuki, who had been pissed as hell when someone had the gall to simultaneously insult her little brother and question her dedication to keeping her brother safe, especially as it was well known she’d been present every moment the two skaters were anywhere near each other.

Last he’d heard, that particular magazine was _scrambling_ to offer amends before the young woman made good on her threats to sue for libel, especially since her brother was a minor. Especially since they were also the ones who had employed the reporter that had conducted the aforementioned interview (without getting prior consent, of course), even though he hadn’t been the one to write the article regarding the skaters’ supposedly scandalous relationship.

At the very least, it was good to know the kid had some very supportive people in his corner.

Privately, Celestino thought that even if Katsuki didn’t press charges like she’d threatened, Feltsman and Nikiforov would more than have that covered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Headcanon that even if Viktor and Chris have never been in a romantic or sexual relationship, Christophe most likely had a crush at some point. I’m sure he was over it by the time the anime began (at least by the Sochi banquet when he saw how happy Viktor was dancing with Yūri), but as a teen? Definitely. That being said, he’s not an antagonist, so he’s pretty much over it now that he’s seen Viktor so happy with Yūri.
> 
> Not sure when Chris actually moved up to seniors, but for the sake of the story this is his last season in juniors.  
> Yurio joined the senior division as soon as he possibly could, I’m sure at least partly because he knew Viktor would be forced to retire within the next few years and didn’t want to miss out on a chance to beat him (another reason he was pissed as hell when Viktor took a break), but Christophe waiting until he’s seventeen, which of course he will be before the next season, wouldn’t be unusual at all.
> 
> Libel is written defamation, slander is verbal. 
> 
> Also, DON'T WORRY, no one is going to take the accusations against Viktor seriously. There's no proof whatsoever, they have Mari's presence as an alibi, and gossip rags lie and do shit like this all the time. It might come up at some point later on, but more as something they'll roll their eyes and huff about than anything that was a threat to their careers.
> 
> Next Chapter: Minako Goes Mama Bear


	18. Mama Bear Minako 1/3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone!  
> Sorry I missed a few days, I’ve been exhausted from work. More idiots calling in than usual. But I’m still meeting my ‘at least 3 chapters a week’ goal, so that’s something, at least.  
> Enjoy!

Lilia raised an unimpressed eyebrow as Minako strode towards where she was waiting, leaving quite a bit of devastation in her wake.

It was amazing how a simple sway of the hips from a confident woman could affect people.

“Okukawa-san.” Lilia greeted stiffly.

“Yuri-chan!” Minako greeted cheerfully, ignoring the other woman’s stiffness as she gathered her old friend into a tight hug. “It’s nice to see you again!”

“Likewise.” Lilia said dryly, before giving in and returning the embrace for a brief moment. “Will you ever stop calling me by that name?”

“Not a chance.” Minako grinned. “After all, Yuri in Japanese means ‘lily’, and it took me forever to find a suitable nickname for you. I don’t want to have to start from square one!”

“Isn’t it also your godson’s name?” The Russian prima rolled her eyes.

“Yūri is a different name entirely.” Minako shook her head firmly. “Even if it wasn’t, I started calling you that long before my dear little protégé was born.”

Lilia raised an eyebrow. “Speaking of the boy, you were hardly clear as to your reason for this visit…”

Minako grinned, an almost dangerous glint in her eyes. “What makes you think I didn’t come to see you? It really _has_ been a long time, both since I’ve seen you, and since I was last in Russia…”

The other woman was clearly not buying it, and after a moment, Minako huffed.

“Okay, so I wanted to meet that ‘seducer’ under your husband’s tutelage.” Minako huffed. “I trust my kid not to get caught up in something like that, even if he _has_ idolized Nikiforov for years—if you ever meet Yūri, don’t tell him I said that, by the way—but I don’t trust Nikiforov.”

Lilia hummed, not surprised in the slightest.

After all, if a fourteen-year-old child she was close to had been featured in an article and been rumored to be involved with an eighteen-year-old, she would be concerned, too. Especially since Nikiforov was a senior athlete in the same sport as the younger, and could theoretically be trading tips for…less than appropriate favors.

That being said, she’d gotten to know Viktor rather well since he’d started training under her husband, and she _very_ much doubted that he was taking advantage of the younger boy.

Still, she was hardly about to dismiss the idea out of hand. After all, there were plenty of disgusting creeps in the world that anyone would had have sworn would never commit the crimes they did. Preconceived notions and personal relationships to those people could be quite effective in blinding them to the realities, she had heard.

So, no, she didn’t think that young Katsuki-san had to worry about seduction-wise (though according to her husband Vitya _was_ disturbingly serious about the possibility of a relationship once the Japanese teen was of age), but she wasn’t about to stop Minako from doing whatever she felt she needed to do to protect the boy.

She just hoped the woman didn’t manage to scare Viktor away from the boy. Whatever relationship they had, Katsuki-san did seem to be a good influence, and god knows Viktor needed someone to rein him in.

~

Yakov watched in bemusement as Viktor sat comfortably with their newest addition to the rink, a young boy who had apparently drawn his attention when Viktor had wandered past the local public rink.

According to his star skater, he had immediately seen fantastic potential in the boy, despite the fact that the kid had only just started skating lessons, and the gray-haired teen had practically _begged_ for Yakov to take the Plisetsky kid on as a student.

Yakov had understandably refused, of course, but after a few weeks of nonstop begging, promises from Viktor that do his damnedest to behave for the press (important, considering his lack of shame in his ‘friendship’ with the Japanese Yūri), and the fact that Vitya had convinced _Lilia_ to come to one of the blonde’s ballet lessons, and then even _she_ was agreeing that the child may have some potential…

Well, it was no surprise when he eventually capitulated.

He wasn’t regretting it too much, though, because while the boy did have a shocking amount of attitude and spite packed into his tiny form, he was learning very quickly, an ever-evolving monster…

However, perhaps he was only trying as hard as he was in an effort to prove to Viktor that he was right to sponsor him.

That’s right. Not only had Viktor gotten Yakov to agree to teach the boy, but he was covering all of the six-year-old’s expenses, too.

Coaching and rink fees, the continued ballet lessons (someday Lilia may take him on as a student, once he had the basics down, taught to him by someone she trusted to do the job right, but that day was far off), even his equipment.

Yakov couldn’t fathom why Viktor would go so far for someone he’d only known for a month or so, but the boy had money to spare, with how many sponsors he had, prize money, ice shows, a few investments he’d been making recently, and the money he’d been given in thanks for medaling in the Olympics…well, the boy could afford it.

So, yes, that was probably part of the reason young Yuri was so determined to learn quickly. He might not be about to thank Viktor for it, but Yakov knew that he _was_ grateful, even if he didn’t show it.

After all, Viktor funding him meant that Nikolai Plisetsky didn’t have to carry the financial stress himself, which Yakov could tell had been trying for the other man during his meeting with him (as Yuri’s guardian, which made him curious, but it wasn’t his place to ask) to iron out a coaching contract.

Yuri loved his grandfather more than anyone—maybe he was the _only_ one the boy loved, and if nothing else, the lessened stress on the old man’s face probably made Yuri grateful for Viktor’s aid, even if he didn’t quite understand the situation at his young age.

He was brought out of his musings when his wife, uncharacteristically, came into the rink.

His confusion at her appearance was quickly answered when he caught sight of the woman behind her, someone he hadn’t seen in person since his and Lilia’s wedding—someone he _had_ seen more recently on television while watching the junior qualifiers…

Minako Okukawa, an old friend of Lilia’s, who also happened to be acting as Katsuki’s coach at the moment.

There was no way this was a coincidence; the timing was too perfect.

Yakov opened his mouth to get Viktor’s attention—maybe to alert him to the women’s presence, maybe to tell him to run like hell, but Minako raised a finger to cover her lips in a universal request for silence, and he promptly shut his mouth.

He gulped at the steely look she was shooting Viktor.

This…had a good chance of becoming very ugly, very quickly. Especially if the skater started spouting all of that nonsense (because it had to be nonsense, he thought to himself desperately, though he wasn’t very good at convincing himself that Viktor wasn’t entirely serious) about marrying Katsuki.

Yakov prayed the boy would still be able to skate after being confronted with the natural disaster that was a protective Minako.

Hopefully she would show at least some restraint, considering Russian Yuri’s presence…Nikolai might not be able to afford a psychologist to deal with his grandson’s resulting trauma, since Viktor couldn’t help pay for it (or pay for it in full) if he was dead or in a coma.

Well, he was about to find out, wasn’t he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3
> 
> Also, don't worry, Minako's going to be the only one calling Lilia 'Yuri', and only when Yuuri and Yuri P aren't there. There's only so much confusion we can all handle. :)
> 
> Sorry about the cliffhanger, I've got to get my kicks somewhere! ;)


	19. Mama Bear Minako 2/3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments, guys!
> 
> Don't worry, Minako is probably going to scare the hell out of Viktor (or do her best), but she won't actually hurt him.
> 
> Thought I'd get this out now instead of waiting until tomorrow like I originally intended.
> 
> Enjoy! <3

Minako lounged around the edges of the rink with Lilia, successfully masking her presence from the Nikiforov boy, who was joining the blonde kid on a break after spending quite a while demonstrating various maneuvers for Yakov, who wanted the boy to know the correct form before attempting any of it on the ice, not that they were going to let him do even simple jumps any time soon.

She had only just positioned herself behind him, barely out of sight, when she overheard what the two boys were saying. They were speaking in Russian, of course, but as Minako had spent years of her career as a pro ballerina at the Bolshoi Ballet, she understood them just fine.

“Just watch, someday I’m going to beat you to the ground.” The blonde muttered mutinously as he rubbed at his feet, which were slightly blistered from getting used to ice skates over the past few weeks. They weren’t as bad as they could be, though, since Yakov was careful not to let the tiny child skate too long.

“I’m sure you will.” Nikiforov agreed, and Minako paused in her approach at the genuine agreement. “You’ll probably end up more willowy than me, and that lends itself better to flexibility. I don’t have much experience with ballet, either, so that’s another advantage you’ll have…”

Yuri didn’t quite understand what some of that meant, but he gave a satisfied huff at the acknowledgment of his claim.

“I’m good at the technical elements, but I have a hard time with…the emotion.” Nikiforov continued, and Minako and Yuri both leaned closer, curious about his self-criticisms. “I’m too robotic, sometimes. I like to think I’m getting a bit better, but it’ll be a long time before I’m anywhere near as good at it as my friend Yūri-kun…”

Minako’s gaze sharpened immediately at the mention of her brat, though she was gratified by Nikiforov’s honest praise. The fondness and awe in his words definitely went a long way towards convincing her that he really did see Yūri as his friend.

“Yuri-kun?” the blonde boy repeated dubiously, sounding a bit suspicious.

“Oh, uh, Katsuki Yūri.” Nikiforov elaborated. “He’s another figure skater, in the junior circuit right now.”

“I know who he is.” The blonde interjected with a scowl. “He won that big yellow circle…”

Minako nearly cooed at the kid’s adorableness, and she noticed that Viktor barely refrained from doing so himself.

“Yes, he did win a gold medal.” The gray-haired teen beamed, blue eyes lighting up, not drawing attention to the kid’s lack of knowledge but subtly letting him know the correct terminology. “He’s amazing! He won the same medal in his first two competitions a few months ago, and he’s going to win a lot more, too!”

The Japanese woman, who was of course still hiding, raised an eyebrow at the fact that the Russian had apparently done his research, and…with how he was acting…was _he_ a fan of _Y_ _ūri’s_?!

It seemed impossible, but the more he talked about her kid, the more convinced she was.

“I can’t wait until he joins the senior division with me.” Viktor sighed wistfully. “He’s going to kick my butt around the rink. It’s going to be so fun!”

“You bet he’s going to kick your butt.” Yuri stuck his tongue out at the older skater.

Viktor blinked in surprise, but then beamed. “Mhm! I don’t stand a chance!”

The blonde twitched.

“You don’t even care he’s better than you?!” he hissed, standing up and ignoring his aching feet to get in Viktor’s face.

Viktor blinked up at him, tilting his head curiously.

“No…” he said slowly. “He’s…well, he’s _Y_ _ūri!_ I’m just still amazed I met someone as wonderful as he is…”

Minako blinked, utterly bewildered at the deep look of emptiness and loneliness that graced the teen’s eyes for the briefest of moments, disappearing before the child saw it.

She…really didn’t know what to think.

Not only had an Olympian medalist just openly admitted that a fourteen-year-old novice was more skilled than he was, but he apparently thought the world of the boy Minako had come over 7,000 kilometers to see if she needed to threaten him to leave alone.

That, along with the boy’s child-like heart-shaped smile, humbled her slightly.

She tuned back in to the conversation a moment later.

“…fifteen in a couple of weeks.” Viktor was telling the blonde boy. “He refused to give me an address—not that I blame him, please don’t go around telling people where you live, so I can’t send him anything, and he swears he’ll stop talking to me if I try anyway…”

Minako stared at the boy, having caught on to what he was talking about, even though she’d tuned out at the start.

Yuri pouted at the idea that even if he had wanted to send his idol something for his birthday (which he _didn’t_ ), he wouldn’t be able to.

Noticing this, Minako decided it was about time to announce her presence.

“Somehow I doubt he would stop talking to you.” She said calmly, lips quirking into a smile when the two boys jumped in shock, especially Viktor, who seemed simultaneously panicked and happy to see her. It was apparent that he knew who she was, so the panic made sense, if he was smart enough to guess at why she was here, but the happiness confused her.

“Minako Okukawa.” She introduced herself, first to the younger blonde, shaking his hand (the little spitfire smirked at his rinkmate when she paid attention to him first), and then to Viktor himself, who she merely nodded to. “I’m Yūri Katsuki’s godmother, mentor, and temporary coach. If Mr. Plisetsky here wants to get in contact with my Yūri, I can help with that, but as for you, Nikiforov…I’d like to have a little talk with you first.”

Yuri didn’t notice when his rinkmate paled yet again, too pleased with having been called ‘mister’ to pay attention.

Minako, however, _did_ , and it caused her to grin like a shark.

Viktor gulped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mentioned in previous chapters that Viktor and Yūri want to celebrate important days with each other on the right day from their point of view, meaning they calculated it from the day they got back, taking into account they left the original timeline. This is still true.
> 
> Considering when I decided to have them go back, Yūri’s unbirthday (yes, I’m taking inspiration from Alice in Wonderland for the name) fell on September 5th, and they did celebrate it with Mari. Viktor’s unbirthday was on October 1st, which they also celebrated, a few days before The Hague qualifier for Yūri, though obviously they weren’t able to see each other on those days, between training and school. 
> 
> In the future it’ll be better for them because Russian nationals tend to be over Christmas, and Japan’s are usually about the same time, so from their perspective, even if they can’t be together, at least they’re not also spending Viktor’s birthday apart, despite what everyone else thinks.
> 
> Viktor was lying about not knowing Yūri and Mari’s address, obviously. It’s part of their cover story about why, if they’re such good friends, Viktor isn’t going to send him any birthday presents. In Russia, as Viktor mentioned in the series, it’s bad luck to celebrate early (a bit later is okay, but the actual date is preferred), and from their perspective September 5th and November 29th, Yūri’s unbirthday and actual birthday, are so far apart it wouldn’t be considered late, but way too early, so Viktor can’t celebrate with him unless he wants to risk Yūri not reaching his next birthday, as is the superstition.


	20. Mama Bear Minako 3/3

Viktor hadn’t been this terrified since Yūri had tried to end their coach-student relationship all those years ago in Barcelona, when he’d misunderstood and thought that the younger man was breaking up with him despite proposing (and yes, Yūri had admitted that he knew exactly what he was doing, placing the ring on Viktor’s right hand instead of the left) barely _24 hours_ earlier.

Minako was already intimidating, being strong and independent in a way Viktor had always admired, but from the dangerous look in her eyes and her sharp smile.

“Ah, Yurachka—“ Viktor winced as his voice honest to god _cracked_ , causing Minako’s smile to become even sharper. “It might be a good idea to go find Yakov and…um…”

He couldn’t think of a good way to end that, but luckily even the future Ice Tiger of Russia was intimidated by the Japanese woman, and left with only a tiny, petulant scowl, as if saying that he was leaving because he wanted to, not because he’d been told to do so.

“O-Okukawa-san!” Viktor squeaked, bowing hastily. “It’s…nice to meet you…I’m--”

Again, his mind supplied.

It was even true, but he’d enjoy the one-sided reunion more if she wasn’t trying to run him through with her piercing gaze.

“Viktor Nikiforov, I am well aware who you are.” She purred, like a predator stalking her prey, not at all in a seductive way, of course, but an ‘I can kill you with one pinky’ way.

He didn’t doubt it.

She stared at him for a long moment, causing a sweat to break out on his forehead.

The anticipation was driving him crazy, and just when he was about to beg for her to just end his misery already and do whatever she was planning to do, she cracked.

“Huh?!” Viktor cried out as she burst out laughing, tears streaming down her face as she leaned against the wall.

“Your face is priceless!” she managed to get out.

Viktor was so lost it wasn’t even funny.

Eventually, she managed to gather herself together, and realized ( _relished_ , really) the fact that her little fit had terrified the skater more than she had anticipated.

“Initially, I came here to make sure you weren’t planning to hurt my godson.” Minako said, cutting him a little bit of slack. “From the conversation I just overheard, though, I don’t think I really need to worry about that, do I?”

“Of course not!” Viktor’s look of utter devastation and near _panic_ at the thought seemed to slap her in the face, if her expression was anything to go by.

“Geez, I’d gathered you’d become his fan, but to this extent…” she murmured too quietly for him to pick up. She reached out to pat him on the shoulder awkwardly, before continuing in a louder voice. “Good. It did raise more questions, though. What _do_ you want with Yūri-kun?”

“For him to never stop smiling and, if I’m lucky, be one of the reasons for it.” Viktor answered, and it was probably the most honest thing he’d ever said to anyone but Yūri himself. Well, and Makkachin, but he wasn’t sure his darling poodle quite counted.

Minako stared at him like he was the strangest thing she’d ever seen, and Viktor tried not to squirm under her gaze, flushing slightly as he realized just how his reply had sounded, but not about to take it back.

“He’s not always going to be smiling, you know.” Minako said after a long moment, and Viktor could hear the pain in her voice as she glanced away, eyes on the ice. “As much as I wish that was the case.”

“I know.” Viktor’s eyes softened as he recalled so many memories where his beloved had been trapped in his own mind, and all Viktor could really do was stay with him to help ward off his inner demons. Those anxiety and panic attacks had gotten less and less frequent as time went on, but they never went away completely. “Those times will just make the happier memories even more precious…”

~

Minako stared at the young man, barely an adult, with a hint of wonder.

Viktor Nikiforov was…more than she’d expected, honestly. He’d been nervous and terrified when she had approached, knowing full well who she was, and had sent the young blonde away because he’d realized the potential for danger, while not trying to escape her clutches himself.

Minako could respect that.

It quickly became apparent that somehow, despite being one of the most seemingly improbable things that could ever happen since Yūri hadn’t yet had the chance to skate against the older teenage like he had always dreamed, Viktor truly did think the world of her kid, and it seemed that either he had picked up on Yūri’s anxiety, or Yūri had trusted him enough to mention it, both of which boded well.

She waited a few long moments to say anything, just to see him squirm some more, before giving a heaving sigh and turning to walk away.

“Just remember that he’s only fourteen, Nikiforov.” Minako called out cheerfully over her shoulder. “If those hands of yours stray too far, I’ll enjoy cutting them—and a certain other part of your body—off and hanging them on the wall of my bar.”

She didn’t know it, but Viktor actually _relaxed_ at that, like threatening to chop of limbs and extremities was the least of his worries.

If she had turned back, she’d have realized that Yūri’s virtue was in no immediate danger, but even if she had, she wouldn’t have let up on him.

After all, her kid was in love with this man, and while it seemed like he was at the very least well on his way towards falling for Yūri in return, it was still her job to ensure he treated Yūri like the perfect fallen angel he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minako spoke with both Mari and Yūri at length about what actually happened at Skate America, knowing how gossip rags exaggerate, so she already knew nothing actually inappropriate had gone on, and knew it wasn’t likely that Viktor was actually a pervert and wasn’t as harsh as she could have been.  
> That being said, she's not an idiot, and easily picked up on the fact that Viktor would have zero qualms about some sort of relationship with Yuuri, she just wants to make sure it's not a sexual one before Yuuri's old enough for it.


	21. Taking to Twitter

Yūri’s schoolmates…didn’t know what to think.

On the one hand, they were all excited, proud, and star-struck at the fact that one of their own had beaten not one, not two, but _three_ world records (the third being the total score) at his competition.

Even the few teachers that were usually horrid, harshly telling their students that they would never make anything of themselves, quietly admitted that Katsuki seemed to be an exception, not that any of them would say it aloud.

On the other, the Japanese boy had also fallen victim to a scandal regarding another skater four years his senior. It wasn’t as bad as the article implied, since it was later _proven_ that nothing had actually gone on, but it was the final nail in the coffin the students needed to realize that Katsuki’s world was so much larger than the rest of them. He knew celebrities— _was_ a celebrity, enough that gossip rags would target him, and rumor had it that his temporary coach was following through with his older sister’s threats to sue…

Whereas before he had seemed normal and approachable enough that half the school held hopes of being the one to date him, now he seemed completely untouchable, and not even the biggest egos in the school were quite able to get over how out of their league he was.

The more perceptive students realized there was no real chance anyway, considering how Katsuki and that other skater, the Russian, had looked at each other in that photograph, like they were the only people in the world.

Sure, nothing inappropriate had gone on that night, but that didn’t mean the two parties involved were opposed to the idea of a relationship between them, it just wasn’t feasible due to their respective ages.

This realization slowly swept through the school as a whole, that Katsuki’s heart had already been won, and a lot of hearts were broken.

Still, some stubborn souls were determined to steal it back for themselves. After all, the two skaters weren’t actually dating.

They still had a chance.

Right?

Well, that’s what they thought until one of the students who had become a full-fledged fan of Katsuki noticed the drama happening on Twitter…

~

[Public Twitter Accounts]

 **Katsuki Y** **ūri** @KatsudonYūri

Honestly, I’m FOURTEEN. What is wrong with people? @v-nikiforov

 **Viktor Nikiforov** @v-nikiforov

They don’t understand 'age appropriate' or ‘consent’, apparently. @KatsudonYūri

 **Viktor Nikiforov** @v-nikiforov

Not that I’d complain about a relationship (obviously he’s amazing), but no going THAT far until he’s a least 18, people! @KatsudonYūri

 **Anna Marie** @annamarie

Isn’t the age of consent in Russia (and Michigan, I looked it up) 16? @v-nikiforov @KatsudonYūri

 **Viktor Nikiforov** @v-nikiforov

Yes, but not in Japan, and that’s more important! <3 @annamarie

 **Minako Okukawa** @HasetsuDanceStudio

Damn right it is. @v-nikiforov

 **Katsuki Y** **ūri** @KatsudonYūri

Please stop, you’re fanning the flames…too much of a scandal and we won’t be allowed to compete! @v-nikiforov @HasetsuDanceStudio

 **ISU Figure Skating** @ISU_Figure

Thank you for the consideration. Rest assured, public support of the importance of consent won’t get you banned. @KatsudonYūri @v-nikiforov

 **ISU Figure Skating** @ISU_Figure

Good luck to @KatsudonYūri and @v-nikiforov at the Junior Grand Prix and Grand Prix Finals respectively! May you do your countries proud!

 **Viktor Nikiforov** @v-nikiforov

Thank you, @ISU_Figure! We’ll do our best, right boys? @KatsudonYūri @christophe-gc

 **Katsuki Y** **ūri** @KatsudonYūri

Yes! Watch out Viktor, we’ll be coming after your medals, soon! ;) @v-nikiforov @christophe-gc

~

From his home in Switzerland, where he'd just finished practice for the day, Christophe opened up his laptop idly, only to be pleasantly surprised.

He was NOT expecting this second acknowledgment from Viktor freaking Nikiforov, having been sure he wouldn't be noticed again until he competed against the man and, hopefully (though not realistically), pried the position of first place from him.

He did smirk at the Japanese skater's comment, though. It was very satisfying, knowing that the two took him seriously, even though they were both, he had to admit, a lot more skilled than he was at this point.

It went a long way to soothe the slight hurt that his little crush on Viktor would not be returned, though he was mostly over it already anyway.

He found himself looking forward to the Junior Grand Prix Finals more than ever, curious to meet the younger skater who had so enraptured the Russian.

~

Yūri smiled in spite of his embarrassment at the situation, glad that Viktor had thought to include Chris in their exchange and more than willing to welcome the Swiss skater.

He knew his husband missed his best friend, and Yūri himself missed the man, so he was glad to see him take the first step to reestablish their friendship like Yūri had already started doing with Phichit.

The Thai boy was, as predicted, already extremely active on social media, despite only being eleven at this point. He hadn’t yet had the opportunity to show off what would become a peerless skill with selfies, since the first-generation iPhone wouldn’t come out for another year, and his timeline’s Phichit had told him that’s what he started with.

He wished he could see his best friend again, but until he could, he was content to wait and build up their friendship over social media.

Oddly, though, his friendships with his schoolmates seemed to falter, slightly, which he wondered at.

The stares were normal enough, everything considered, but…some of those gazes were almost…wistful?

What on earth?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3
> 
> I don’t use Twitter and never have (a shame to young adults everywhere, I know), so the format was gleaned from Google images and screenshots that ended up on Facebook. Hope I didn’t screw it up too badly! The ISU Figure Skating account is real, though I obviously am not associated with it in any way. The Anna Marie account is totally fake, however.
> 
> Yeah, I decided against the 'wait until he's sixteen for their relationship to become public.' I decided sixteen will be the age they start showing their affection physically, keeping it PG or PG-13, but on Twitter they can be as affectionate as they want because no one can accuse them of inappropriate physical contact when they're continents away from each other.


	22. Yuuri's Fanbase Grows...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the awesome comments, everyone! They're what motivate me to post so often!
> 
> Enjoy! :D

Yūri’s eyebrows rose in surprise as he caught a glimpse of his subscriber count. Nearly twenty thousand people in the few months he’d had a channel. Far more than he had imagined, considering YouTube was far from the level of popularity it would be in the future. At this point most people were there for the cat videos…

He had been uploading videos periodically: some tutorials on various dance techniques and how to prepare authentic Japanese meals (remembering how the so-called ‘Japanese’ restaurants he’d been to during his travels in both lifetimes usually failed epically), some of what would later come to be known as ‘travel vlogs’ where he documented his experiences in the countries he’d been competing in recently, and even a few keyboard piano covers of songs used in skating routines he liked, though he carefully stayed away from using any of Viktor’s.

There were also a few random ones, such explaining how honorifics worked in response to someone in the comments asking about it, going over the ‘Do’s and ‘Do Nots’ of Japanese culture (he wondered if he should make that one a series and invite people of other nationalities to collaborate with him so it could extend further than just Japan), tips on adjusting to a new living situation…

Needless to say he’d managed to make videos that varied enough in content that his videos had a similarly varied audience, which made the comment sections pretty interesting, sometimes.

It was almost funny to see how some of his viewers seemed to have recognized him from his competitions or that defamatory magazine Minako was currently leading a legal battle with (he wished she wouldn’t, but her vehemence had been supported by both the Japanese _and_ the Russian Skating Federations), though only a few of them remembered _where_ they recognized him from, and they were seemingly content to tease and hint about it instead of outright saying he was a competitive figure skater. None of those viewers asked about the article, either, which was appreciated.

Maybe at some point he would put the link to his Twitter account in the description, and they could find out that way (they wouldn’t have to look very far), but for now he was content to keep his skating life and YouTube channel separate, otherwise he’d be too tempted to focus all of his videos on skating, and that wasn’t the content these subscribers had signed up for.

He got the feeling that his YouTube channel wouldn’t stay ‘secret’ for long, though.

~

Viktor had managed to refrain from posting about his husband’s channel on his Twitter account to the public, knowing he wanted to be a little more anonymous for now, but he did ask (and was granted) Yūri’s permission to show his channel to Yuri.

The blonde surprised him with his reaction, Viktor would be thrilled to admit.

He had always guessed that their timeline’s Yurio had admired Yūri to some extent, despite what he did his hardest to pretend, but he had never been entirely sure.

Now, though…it was pretty obvious.

Maybe because Viktor himself was #1 Yūri Trash, as he had eventually been called in the future. It was a title he bore proudly.

Anyway, Yuri was entranced with the videos of Yūri’s programs, which they were lucky enough to get clean video of from Yakov, who had wanted to have an opportunity to analyze Katsuki, both as a person (since Viktor was so enamored with him) and with his skating.

After watching the videos from Yakov, Viktor had brought up his laptop and gone to Yūri’s page, displaying a video of Yūri playing one of the songs from The Lion King on the keyboard Mari had re-gifted to him as a pre-teen, which Viktor knew for a fact had actually been uploaded in _tribute_ to the feline-obsessed blonde, though no one but he and Yūri would ever know that.

This was also the first time Yuri had seen a photo of the older Japanese boy with glasses, and when he saw his grandfather, he plucked the man’s reading glasses right off his face and put them on, before mimicking the gesture Yūri had used to push his glasses up.

It was so utterly adorable that Viktor couldn’t help but coo at the boy, and when Nikolai raised an eyebrow in confusion at his grandson’s actions, Viktor quietly explained in English.

Yuri didn’t understand what he was saying, of course, but he seemed to realize what they were talking about anyway, flushing darkly and giving Viktor a glare.

Viktor noted that he didn’t bother taking the glasses off, though, and when he was distracted by Yakov a moment later, he quickly took a picture with his phone to send to Yūri.

Viktor: _Just finished watching your performance at The Hague, and someone (well, aside from me, but you always inspire me) felt inspired! Isn’t he cute? <3<3<3_

It wasn’t long before he got a response.

Yūri: _…Yes, he is, but I hope you had an actual reason for watching that video when you’re supposed to be practicing! Whose glasses are those, by the way? <3_

Viktor: _We were on lunch break. He wasn’t eating his vegetables, so I promised I’d show him some competition footage if he ate them. Obviously, your programs are far more interesting to watch than mine, and Yuri, despite his tragic predilection for animal-print, has good enough taste to agree! The glasses are Nikolai’s. (Also, only one heart?) </3_

Yūri: _Viktor, the flattery is unnecessary; we’ve been together for over twenty years. <3<3<3 (Happy?)_

Viktor: _Oh Yūri…it’s not flattery, it’s fact! And yes. Though I wish you could deliver them in person, or even—_

Yūri: _Opinion, you mean. Anyway, let’s not get into that again. Don’t you dare follow through with those plans, Mr. Katsuki-Nikiforov! Let Yakov keep his hair as long as he can!_

Viktor’s breath caught in his throat, and his fingers hovered over the phone keys.

Yūri quickly noticed, even from the other side of the world, because Viktor usually replied promptly and even if he had to go suddenly he would always say as much when it was Yūri he was talking to.

Yūri: _Vitya, are you okay? Did Yakov make you start practicing again?_

Viktor: _…I miss being called that._

This time it was Yūri’s turn to fall quiet for a moment.

Yūri: _…So do I. It’s hard, getting used to responding to just ‘Katsuki’ again._

Viktor: _We’re going to have to fix that as soon as possible. How long do you think it will take to get your parents’ consent, since they won’t have my presence forced on them for months on end they won’t have to either adapt or be driven insane? That’s how Yakov tells it, at least…_

Yūri: _Oh, are you going to try and beat me to the proposal this time, Viktor? You never did quite get over that, did you? Also, you know perfectly well my parents thought the world of you, I’m sure it won’t take long._

Viktor _:_ _Nice to see you still haven’t let that go. For your information, no, not quite, though you managed to make it more romantic than the ideas I managed to come up with. Beautiful autumn night Barcelona, on the steps of a gorgeous cathedral, choir singing in the background…and people say I’m the extravagant one!_

Yūri: _Oh hush, you loved it._

Viktor _:_ _I love YOU, that’s what made it perfect. The rest was just a bonus. (Yes, yes, I did.)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3
> 
> Yes, yes, I know it came out that that wasn't actually an engagement, but I don't care.


	23. Longing and Contemplations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! I don't think it's been six hours since I posted that last chapter, and already it's probably among the most-reviewed.
> 
> Thank you very much! 
> 
> In return for the awesome feedback, I thought I'd write another chapter and post it today instead of waiting until tomorrow like I'd initially planned..
> 
> Hope you enjoy it! <3

Skyler, who happened to share homeroom with a certain Japanese superstar (or so the students at their school thought of him as), stared as the adorable boy flushed prettily as he read a text from his phone, barely putting it away in time before the teacher came in.

She wondered why he bothered. It’s not like the school had banned cell phones, though she supposed it might be better for their attention span if they did.

Ugh.

Dark thoughts.

She did wonder who he had been texting, though, to put that look on his face.

The Russian he’d featured in an article with (the lawsuit was going well, last she’d heard), perhaps?

One of their schoolmates who had finally plucked up the courage (and enough self-esteem) to ask out their resident celebrity?

Thank god she was a lesbian and wasn’t attracted to the guy in the same way seemingly everyone else was. She just thought he would probably be a good friend, if one could get used to the fact that, in the world of high school, he was larger than life.

~

Students and teachers alike watched quietly as, throughout the day, random delivery personnel dropped into their classrooms to give Katsuki lavish gifts, from a stuffed poodle to a single blue rose that the girls were gushing over.

Oddly enough, Katsuki didn’t look all that surprised, though he was clearly embarrassed about the whole ordeal, and a few people overheard him hissing quietly into the mouthpiece of his cell phone in a mix of Japanese and what sounded like Russian (that theory alone helped some rumors spread, since the almost-scandal with the Russian skater was fresh in their minds), and was apparently scolding the person on the other line.

What on earth?

~

“Viktor, I’m at _school!_ ” Yūri protested, trying to distract himself from swooning slightly as his love crooned ‘his side’ of the lyrics of their duet of Stammi Vicino into Yūri’s ear. “You can’t just—Viktor, this isn’t fair…”

Viktor didn’t bother to respond other than to continue singing, and after a moment, Yūri’s voice joined in.

A few minutes later, right before the bell signaling the end of lunch was about to ring, Yūri spoke up.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Vitenka.” He whispered. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Viktor whispered back, wanting to match Yūri’s volume even though he himself wasn’t in danger of being heard. “More than anything…”

A few stray tears streamed down their faces, unbeknownst to each other.

Long-distance relationships were…really, really difficult. Not being able to kiss the other whenever they wanted to, as they’d grown used to after decades of marriage…well.

Enough of that.

They knew their relationship, their _love_ , was more than worth the wait.

~

Yūri cooed at the adorable kitten in his arms as he fed the newborn animal some formula from a bottle, making sure that he was holding the tiny fluffball correctly.

From a few meters away where she’d been doing the books for the day, his supervisor smiled at him fondly, wishing that she knew more people like this kid.

See, Yūri had found himself with a bit of free time during Thanksgiving Break (which, being Japanese, he didn’t quite see the point of celebrating, though he was sure to offer a prayer in gratitude for everything he was lucky enough to have nonetheless), and he could only spend so much time at the ice rink and dance studio before the staff refused to let him in, afraid he was overworking himself.

He wondered if Celestino had anything to do with that, in the ice rink’s case. The man hadn’t approached him, though he’d noticed he was analyzing his technique, so if that was the case, he should probably be a little annoyed at the man for overstepping.

Oh well. It’s not like he had any proof, and even if he did, Celestino didn’t have any students in the junior circuit, so it was unlikely he was trying to sabotage Yūri (not that he thought the man would do so) by keeping him from practicing.

Anyway, the point was that Yūri found himself with a lot of free time. The people he knew were conspiring against him so that he couldn’t dance or skate where he preferred to, he had finished his homework before school break even began, Viktor was currently asleep and unable to talk, it was cloudy outside which didn’t make for good lighting to shoot another video for YouTube…

So when he caught sight of an animal shelter (with a big sign that said ‘NO KILL’ on the front window), his attention was instantly drawn to it, and he went inside.

The manager, Leah, had blinked in surprise at the Japanese teenager, and he introduced himself, asking if they had any volunteer positions available.

She was surprised, but had heard that high schools these days were encouraging students to volunteer so they could put it on their college applications, so she agreed that he could help out whenever he had the time.

She didn’t expect to see him as often as he did, especially once she found out that he was an actual _professional athlete_ who had a crazy self-imposed training schedule on top of schoolwork, but he made it a point to come in at least twice a week to help out, sometimes bringing his own toy poodle along (though he was sure to ask permission first.)

Usually teenage volunteers just came to cuddle with the animals, but Yūri actually helped as much as possible, having no issue mucking out the cages, taking the animals for walks, grooming them, helping her carry in the heavy bags of food…

He was a huge help, and she couldn’t be happier that he’d happened to pass by.

Especially when a fair few of the boy’s classmates found out he volunteered at the shelter and came by to volunteer their own time in the hopes of getting his attention (despite him being in a relationship, from what she could tell, though she didn’t ask), and some had even adopted an animal.

Really, Leah saw no downside whatsoever to working with Yūri, especially as despite his _career_ (and wasn’t it odd to think that a boy who had only just turned 15 a few days prior would probably soon be making more money than she was, if he wasn’t already) he was the sweetest kid she had ever met.

So she saw no problem taking a bit of advantage of his presence by putting his fans to work (most of them _were_ the type to just want to play with the animals instead of actually helping) in exchange for letting them stay to ogle the poor kid, which oddly enough he seemed to catch on to, if the wary (yet amused) looks he’d thrown her way were any indication. It helped that some of his fans seemed to fall in love with the animals on their own, coming to help out even when Yūri wasn’t there.

When he went off to Bulgaria for his Grand Prix Finals or whatever the competition was called (wasn’t the Grand Prix for racing?), she sincerely wished him luck.

She had a very strong feeling that he would be coming back to Michigan with another gold medal to add to his growing collection, and the best part?

He would still be the same sweet, caring, animal-loving boy she’d gotten to know over the past week. She thought it very unlikely he would let his accomplishments (and she was sure there would be many) get to his head.

Whoever it was he was in a relationship with had better treat him well, or Leah would do all she could with the very limited power she had to make them regret it.

~

Shortly before Yuuri was set to leave for Bulgaria to compete, Viktor caught sight of a photograph of his husband holding a tiny ball of fluff, posted by what he assumed to be one of Yuuri's schoolmates who (though his husband didn't outright tell him this, and Viktor didn't even know if he was aware) seemed to belong to their school's Katsuki Yuuri Fanclub and had volunteered at the same place Yuuri spent a few hours every week.

 **Kelly Rae** @kelly-rae

What did Detroit do to deserve this ball of sunshine? @KatsudonYūri @PetHavenAnimalShelter

Yūri didn't seem to have seen it yet, judging from the lack of a flustered response, but Viktor saved the picture immediately, intending to show it to little Yuri as soon as he next saw the boy, sure that the blonde spitfire would appreciate the sight of his idol cuddling his favorite animal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3
> 
> Remember, they’re celebrating certain holidays from their perspective instead of the correct day from anyone else’s, so while no one else had any idea why Yuuri was randomly getting gifts, it wasn't random to them. Since Yūri’s unbirthday was September 5th, according to the date calculator I pulled up that puts their Valentine’s Day at November 21st, unless the leap years messed everything up. Yūri will return the favor on their equivalent of White Day.


	24. Some Friendships Can Last More than One Lifetime

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclosure: due to many comments regarding cavities and toothaches being gained from reading this fluffy sweetness, a new tag has been added. You have been warned! <3
> 
> Sorry I didn’t update yesterday—I have a sinus infection at the moment, and of course I also had work (long hours so less energy to write), but the infection seems to be clearing up a bit and I’ve taken the rest of the day off work, so I can get this out.
> 
> (Also, thank you for all of your lovely reviews! I definitely didn’t expect that many, but they’re much appreciated!)
> 
> Enjoy! <3

Minako watched in bemusement as the three professional skaters she had been ‘tasked’ with watching interacted with each other.

There was Yūri, obviously, and she was relieved to see that he was still handling the pressure and stress just as well as he had the qualifying competitions, considering this was the finals.

Second was Christophe Giacometti, a skater from Switzerland who had announced that this was his last year in the junior division. He was very…seductive for his age, and Minako could tell he’d be a hell of a heartbreaker in a few years.

Honestly, he already was, but he was only sixteen, and like hell she would try anything after making it such a point to Viktor about the age of consent. If the Russian was willing to wait for Yūri to be legal under Japanese law, then Minako was more than willing to do the same, even though the Swiss skater _was_ legal by his nation’s laws.

Ah, the joys of being responsible.

Still, she would do anything for Yūri, and would therefore be keeping her hands to herself.

In another year or two, however…that was another story.

Anyway, the third skater in their group was none other than Viktor Nikiforov himself, who had apparently ditched Lilia’s husband for the next few days to come watch Yūri (and Chris, he had mentioned, and though Minako wasn’t quite buying it, the Swiss skater had been pleasantly surprised to be included) dominate the finals.

Obviously Yūri had had no idea whatsoever that Viktor intended to come, as he’d spluttered about in surprise when the Russian glomped him into a hug as they were checking in (Minako having picked him up from the airport), and though he’d scolded the older teen for ditching practice, it wasn’t hard to figure out that Yūri was happy to see him.

For her part, Minako was struck by how genuinely _comfortable_ the two of them were with each other, since by all accounts they’d only met in person at Skate America. She knew they interacted a lot online, but it was strange.

Also, falling in line with what he’d said to Minako when she came to his home rink to basically ambush him (she wasn’t about to sugarcoat or apologize for it), Viktor spent every moment he wasn’t speaking with Christophe trying to make Yūri smile, managing it more often than not, though sometimes they were tinged with fond exasperation.

It was nice to see Yūri being so open with someone, especially someone he’d idolized (Mari had mentioned he’d taken down those posters months ago, and he didn’t _seem_ particularly star struck anymore), with such a brilliant sparkle in his eyes, matched only by the matching one in Viktor’s.

So yes, as long as Viktor kept things appropriate for another few years, Minako was more than willing to support their growing relationship, whether it be as friends or something more.

Though she was willing to bet her entire life savings on the latter.

~

Chris was enjoying himself far more than he’d thought, since he’d been intending to stay in his hotel room and watch television for a while before going to bed, and was instead at a restaurant with one of his main competitors, the other boy’s coach, and _Viktor Nikiforov,_ of all people.

It was immediately clear that he’d been right to let go of his crush on the older skater, as he was evidently hopelessly enamored with Yūri (he’d immediately been granted permission to use both his and Minako’s first names), and they were so adorable together he couldn’t even bring himself to mind.

Yūri was…not what he had expected, which wasn’t a bad thing.

From the world records he’d been breaking in the qualifiers (and he was amused to see that Yūri’s prediction from The Hague qualifier was correct and Viktor had in fact been pouty as a result of his records being broken, though it was apparently all in good fun), he would have expected Yūri to be arrogant and prideful, dismissive of Chris, who was good enough to make it to the finals but not anything particularly special, as least in comparison.

Not yet, anyway.

But no, the younger skater didn’t seem to have a bad word to say about anyone as he and Chris compared notes on the strengths and weaknesses they’d noticed in their competitors (though they didn’t critique each other), and Yūri’s analysis of their weaknesses was purely constructive, not insulting, and he seemed genuinely appreciative of their strengths, even though Chris privately thought that Yūri was far more skilled and should be the one _being_ praised, not giving it.

Then again, Viktor seemed to have made praising Yūri his life’s goal, so if Yūri wanted any variety in his conversation maybe it was a good thing he seemed to try and avoid praise from anyone else. Even from Viktor, he seemed resigned, as if he’d long since given up trying to stop the praises.

That blush was pretty adorable, Chris had to admit, and he fought the urge to ruffle Yūri’s hair. He might have gone for a grope, but they were sitting, and with Minako and Viktor there that might turn out badly anyway, since they didn’t know him well enough to realize he didn’t really mean anything by it.

He was brought out of his thoughts as Viktor asked him something in French, to which he of course replied instinctively, and Minako looked on in amusement. Viktor started teasing Yūri for being the only one who didn’t know French, and in return, Yūri turned to Chris and spoke in halting Italian (which Chris had some experience with, as one of the official languages of Switzerland.)

 _“Don’t tell him, but I’m actually taking French at school right now.”_ The Japanese boy said, eyes twitching slightly as Viktor started whining now that the tables were turned. _“I can’t really follow the conversation yet, but once I can, I’m going to wait until he says something embarrassing to let him find out I know what he’s saying.”_

Chris barked out a laugh, delighted at the boy’s sassy nature, and winked to show that his secret was safe with him.

When Minako asked about Yūri’s apparently newfound knowledge of Italian, the boy simply shrugged, mentioning that there was an Italian skating coach who frequented his rink in Detroit that he was hoping would offer to take Yūri on (Chris noticed that Minako wasn’t insulted in the slightest that she would be replaced, but remembered that she _had_ always been introduced as a stand-in), and he’d hoped learning some of the man’s native tongue would be helpful.

In reality, Celestino had taught both him and Phichit a bit of the language in the original timeline when they’d expressed an interest, and Yūri had kept up with it in a silent gesture of not only gratitude for taking him on, but apology for more or less abandoning him for Viktor.

Christophe and Minako, of course, didn’t know this, but Viktor did, and he’d felt like his heart was bursting at Yūri’s sweetness.

When it came time for them to part for the night, Chris wished Yūri the best of luck, in case they didn’t get the chance to see each other the next day, and hoped that regardless of how the finals went, he would walk away with new friends.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3
> 
> Sorry, I don't know any Italian and didn't want to use Google translate to butcher such a beautiful language. 
> 
> Also, the title is a reference to something. Anyone want to make a guess what it's from? ;)


	25. Junior Grand Prix Finals 1/2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the well wishes, everyone! Definitely am feeling better than I have been. <3
> 
> Oh, before I forget: I was intending to include this fact within the chapter, but couldn't find a good place to include it. Sorry! I usually try and be better at including those little things in the actually story. :(
> 
> Last chapter, when Yuuri spoke a bit of Italian to Chris, Viktor was able to get the gist of what he was saying, due to French and Italian being similar enough that knowing one gives you an edge in understanding the other, which I believe is also the case with Spanish.
> 
> Yuuri was well aware Viktor would probably be able to understand it, but mostly said it to try and make Chris a little more comfortable around them. Viktor really hadn't known he was taking French lessons, though, so he was still surprised, and we all know how much he loves surprises.
> 
> As for Yuuri having a really good head for languages in this story (fluent in three, working knowledge in Italian and Thai, now starting on French), I figured I've seen quite a few stories with polyglot!Viktor but not many with Yuuri being the one with the mind for languages, so I wanted to try it out. I just imagine him being the type to look up how to say certain phrases (like at the very least 'please', 'sorry', and 'thank you') for every country he visits, and since skating takes him all over the world...well, that's a lot of opportunities. :)
> 
> Anyway, enough of my rambling.
> 
> Enjoy! :D

Minako watched in complete and utter awe as her boy soared across the ice in what was perhaps the most intricate step sequence she had ever seen, launching gracefully into a perfect Triple Axel seemingly without a care in the world.

As Yūri’s free program entered into the second half, his movements seemed to get even more graceful, if that was even possible—and Minako had been the one to introduce Yūri to dancing, so she _knew_ how he could move, but this was something else entirely.

Layback Ina Bauer into a Triple Loop-Triple Toeloop combination (and wasn’t it a shock for everyone to see a triple/triple combination, much less from a novice), adding even more difficulty to his program...

He might be limiting himself by not trying to include any quadruple jumps right now, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t give it his all to make his program as difficult as possible—both technically and performance-wise.

Hearing someone’s breath catch in their throat, she turned to see Viktor from where he had snuck in to stand with her and greet Yūri as soon as possible after his performance.

Looking at the tears in his eyes as Yūri’s smoothly transitioned into a Biellmann spin after eight revolutions of a layback spin (for added difficulty), and even falling down his face as Yūri landed his last jump—a Triple Flip—perfectly, she felt a strange certainty that this was the man her kid was going to marry.

Someday, at least.

She let out a tiny chuckle as Yūri glided over to the Kiss and Cry, gently trying to extract himself from Viktor’s hug to get them over to the bench to await his score.

Minako was amused to notice that Yūri was holding the older skater’s hand as he led him there, and Viktor followed without a single hint of protest, wrapping his hand around Yūri’s even more firmly.

Viktor’s beaming smile as Yūri yet again broke one of the Russian skater’s old records settled something for Minako, and she let out a smaller, but no less genuine smile.

Leave it to her little danseur to steal the heart of Russia’s pride and joy seemingly without even trying.

~

Georgi’s eyes widened, thunderstruck, as he watched the Japanese skater’s performance.

Viktor had had the decency to warn him that he was leaving to go watch Katsuki in the Junior Grand Prix Finals, just so he could prepare to withstand Yakov’s fury, and Georgi had decided to watch the Japanese boy’s programs with little Yura, who was apparently a fan, to see if he could figure out why Viktor was so enamored with the kid four years his junior.

The short program had been enthralling, such an emotional performance that Georgi still hadn’t quite managed to recover. Even Yura, though he seemed a bit put out at the style of music the ‘other Yuri’ was skating to, seemed to try all that much harder during his ballet practice after watching it.

Two days later (as Georgi enjoyed watching the Ladies events), and Katsuki outdid himself, shattering Viktor’s world record while barely breaking a sweat and bringing the entire arena to their feet, screaming his name or, you know, just screaming.

This kid threw out triples like they were nothing, and his triple Axel was particularly well executed, so it was no surprise he’d been given a GOE score of 3+, like he had on…most of his jumps, actually.

Georgi was even more impressed, however, by the boy’s performance components. He transitioned so fluidly, years of training in dance evident in every single movement, not having to slow down before leaping into jumps of much greater height than Georgi would have expected from a fifteen-year-old…

And those step sequences…now he understood what Viktor was talking about when he said that Katsuki didn’t move with the music, but…well, to paraphrase Viktor’s sappy rant on the topic, made the music his bitch.

Seeing those performances, Georgi found himself bright with anticipation for when the Japanese skater moved up to their division.

~

Christophe stood frozen as he watched Yūri enrapture the entire audience in mere moments, the feeling only getting stronger and stronger as his free skate continued.

This boy was…something else, really.

Now, Viktor was good. Amazing, even. Perhaps good enough to become a legend.

But this tiny, adorable Japanese skater?

He had the potential to be _better_.

Viktor’s performances, at least until recently, had focused more on technical elements than performance, though he’d never really neglected them so much as not put quite as much effort into them, relying more on his jumps.

Yūri was the opposite.

Oh, his technical skills were definitely up to par. Chris both dreaded and was excited by the thought of going against Yūri once he started adding quads to his jump roster, because the boy was already kicking his ass, and though Chris was competitive, he couldn’t help but want to see Yūri skate to his full potential.

That gold medal he’d been dreaming of snatching from Viktor from years had already seemed like a pipe dream, but with Yūri to contend with as well, it seemed to get even further away.

Still…if there was one thing that he got from Yūri’s performance (aside from the feeling of complete and utter admiration for the sheer musicality of it), it was the love for skating—love in _general_ , that he had been projecting throughout the program.

Love…something he felt like he had been taking for granted recently, he thought, remembering how little time he had spent with his mama lately, too focused on preparing for the season.

Guilt struck him right in the chest at the thought.

He shouldn’t have gotten so carried away. No one should ever be _too busy_ for their family.

If Yūri had known that he’d inadvertently helped Chris realize that he needed to cherish those bonds while he still could, he would have cried, overwhelmed that he’d managed to pass on such an important message—one that he still sometimes felt that he’d learned too late in life, even if Vicchan was alive and well, now happily living in Detroit with Yūri.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3
> 
> Sorry for the lack of detail with the actual skating; I don't know much about it and it's getting late enough I didn't have too much time to look up more than the requirements for the junior men's free skate and some information on the techniques I had him throw in. Hope it was okay despite that!


	26. Junior Grand Prix Finals 2/2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yakov finally gets the chance to meet the mysterious Japanese skater who managed to enthrall Viktor so very thoroughly...

Yakov stood tensely in the doorway as the finalists for the Junior Grand Prix were being interviewed by the usual mass of loud reporters.

He didn’t want to be here, but he wanted to get Viktor back to Saint Petersburg as quickly as possible, and he figured attending the press conference would make it so that the insolent skater didn’t have much of an opportunity to escape.

That, and he was admittedly a little curious about seeing him interact with Katsuki, but he wasn’t about to let on to that fact to Viktor, sure that he would just take it as an open invitation to go gallivanting off to wherever Katsuki happened to be.

“Mr. Katsuki, we all noticed that Viktor Nikiforov was waiting for you with your temporary coach at the Kiss and Cry after your performance…” one of the reporters began. “Some of us are wondering why. Did he help you with your routine, like as a choreographer?”

Katsuki blinked at her in surprise. “No, I choreographed it myself, drawing on the lessons Minako-sensei taught me. He did help me come up with ideas for my costume, because I’m a little hopeless when it comes to that kind of thing, but as for the actual skating, Viktor has been focusing on his own programs, as he should.”

Yakov relaxed slightly at the denial, glad that Viktor wasn’t so far gone as to choreograph his ‘future husband’s’ program, especially one that broke his world record.

If only he knew…

“But why was he there?” another reporter pressed.

“He wanted to show his support…?” Katsuki trailed off, seemingly wondering why it needed explanation.

“But why?” the same man repeated, unsatisfied.

“Because he wanted to…” Katsuki’s eyebrows furrowed.

The Japanese skater noticed that the man was about to continue pressing for a more interesting answer, and said, in a kind but firm voice, “Next question, please.”

Yakov couldn’t help but be a little impressed.

“Mr. Katsuki, you placed gold in Japan’s junior national competition a couple of weeks ago, correct?” one of the other reporters obliged to his demand.

“Yes…?” Katsuki’s eyebrows once again furrowed.

“Back at Skate America, you gave a short interview, and when prompted about your plans for which division you would skate for in nationals, you mentioned that Japan sometimes invited junior medalists to participate in the senior competition.” She began. “Have you received an invitation?”

“Ah.” Katsuki leaned back slightly. “Yes, the JSF has been kind enough to offer me the opportunity.”

“Are you planning to take them up on it?” she continued.

Katsuki hummed. “I’m…still deciding, at the moment, but to be honest I think I’ll wait until I’m actually in the senior division. I will be in Japan anyway during school break, but I want to spend that time with my family and friends, since I haven’t seen them in months, not stressing out over a competition.”

Yakov once again found himself approving, and he didn’t have any way of knowing, but so were many of the members of the Japanese Skating Federation, who didn’t take offense to the boy’s decision, as well as some companies that had been considering offering themselves as potential sponsors.

After all, family was very important, and who could blame the boy for putting those bonds at a higher level of importance than competing in a competition before he’d usually be able to?

“Besides, it’ll be easier to find time to watch Viktor’s programs over the television, too, since Russia’s nationals overlap with Japan’s most of the time.” Katsuki added with a grin. “Granted, next year that won’t be an issue, since Russia’s is scheduled for January instead, but by then I won’t be in the junior division anyway…”

It suddenly got quite a bit louder in the room at the Japanese skater’s announcement that he intended to make his debut in the senior division next season.

As Katsuki pulled the Swiss skater into it, as he was also intending to move up, Yakov glanced over at where Viktor was watching with a beaming smile.

Well…on one hand, he would have to push his student even harder, with such a strong contender moving up.

On the other, at least now there was a chance they would be assigned the same competitions for the Grand Prix series, at least, so maybe Viktor would stop running off…

It was a longshot, but hey, he could dream, right?

~

Yūri gave out a quiet, relieved sigh as the press conference finally ended.

“You okay?” Chris asked, slightly concerned at the younger skater’s obvious wariness.

“Yes, thank you.” Yūri smiled at his ‘new’ friend. “I’m just…not a fan of crowds. Or public speaking.”

“I never would have guessed!” Chris blinked in surprise, before breaking out into a grin. “You did pretty damn well, as far as I’m concerned. Things are definitely more interesting with you around.”

Yūri smiled at him fondly, appreciating his friend’s assurances. “Thank you. Somehow I get the feeling your debut is going to be pretty interesting, too.”

“Oh?” Chris batted his eyes at him playfully. “What makes you think that?”

“Call it a hunch.” Yūri laughed, not jumping as he felt a familiar pair of arms drape themselves over him, leaning back into the comforting warmth.

“Yes, I’ll have to up my own game if I want to surprise the crowds more than you two.” Viktor chuckled. “I can’t wait. It’s gotten a bit boring…I should have stayed in the junior division as long as I was able. Then we could have made our debut together!”

Yūri glanced at Chris, and they rolled their eyes in unison.

Technically he probably could have, at least for the Grand Prix, since anyone under 19 could compete in junior events, but after his birthday in December he would be forced to move on to the senior division, which…would have been more hassle than it was worth, if it was even allowed.

“You were wasted on juniors, Vitya.” Yūri told his husband, the nickname causing his husband to melt slightly, arms tightening around Yūri. “Besides, this was our time to shine.”

He turned his head slightly, winking at the Russian playfully.

“Yeah, let me get appreciate winning silver this year before I’m bumped down to bronze, at best.” Chris said dryly, glancing between the two with a fond look in his eyes. “I can’t tell yet which one of you will take gold, but it should be fun to watch.”

“I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?” Viktor laughed. “I’m betting on Yūri, personally, but as for bronze… well, I’m counting on you to make it as difficult for me as possible, so don’t give up on silver just yet.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Chris smirked.

~

A few minutes later, Yakov finally found the trio, cursing his student in his mind because the brat had of course managed to escape his grasp after the press conference.

“Yakov!” Viktor gasped dramatically, ducking his head and bending slightly so he was slightly more hidden by Katsuki, who he’d been hugging from behind. “Yūri, hide me!”

The Japanese skater rolled his eyes in both fondness and exasperation, smoothly extracting himself from Viktor’s hold.

“If you’re going to ditch your responsibilities, you’re going to have to deal with the consequences, Vitya.” He said dryly, nodding to Yakov in greeting.

“Hello, coach Feltsman, it’s nice to finally meet the man Viktor speaks of so fondly. I’m Katsuki Yūri, or Yūri Katsuki, if you prefer.” Yakov blinked at the deep bow of respect he was given, such a change to how the other young people he knew acted.

He could grow to like this kid…

“I apologize for the hassle.” Katsuki continued. “I wasn’t expecting Viktor to come, or I would have tried to talk him out of it.”

Yakov sighed. “I…appreciate the sentiment, but I’m afraid you wouldn’t have had much luck. Once he’s made a decision, it’s very difficult to convince him to change his mind.”

Yūri nodded knowingly, and Yakov wondered at the more empathetic than sympathetic expression, as if he really _did_ know, instead of just guessing at what Yakov had to deal with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3


	27. Things Start Falling Into Place...

Yakov sweatdropped as Viktor showed up to the rink with a flower crown of medium-sized flowers in light purple and pink, and smaller white flowers interwoven between them. Along with that, he was carrying what seemed to be a tissue holder, styled to look like his poodle.

“Do I want to know?” he eventually asked with a sigh as Viktor carefully lifted the ring of flowers from his head, placing it gently on the bench like it was the most precious thing in the world, eyes daring anyone to so much as touch it.

“Yūri had it delivered to me this morning!” Viktor says, eyes shining more brightly than Yakov was used to, and when he heard the Japanese skater’s name everything made perfect sense, or at least as much sense as it could with Viktor involved. “He said he was initially going to send chocolates, too, but decided against it because of the competition…”

“Why bother?” Yakov grunted. “The Grand Prix Finals haven’t even ended yet.”

Indeed, it hadn’t even been a week since they had last seen the Japanese boy at his own finals in Bulgaria, and now Viktor was preparing for the senior version of the same competition, which would be taking place right here in Saint Petersburg.

Yakov always preferred it when that happened, as not only did they not need to do any traveling, but they could continue practicing in their own rink instead of sharing the one they would be using for the event with the other competitors.

Anyway, Viktor had already performed his short program, setting a new world record like it was the easiest thing in the world before sending off a text to Japanese Yūri, teasingly challenging him to beat it.

Yakov’s attention was brought back to his skater when Viktor gave him a wink and an enigmatic smile instead of answering his question, pushing off onto the ice and humming an unfamiliar tune.

Seeing the young adult perform his free skate routine with more aplomb than he had since Skate America, Yakov paused as he realized the implication of that.

Viktor was skating the emotionally-charged program with more heart, not that it had been particularly lacking since before the Olympics, but now Viktor was getting better and better at emoting, and it all seemed to boil down to the Japanese skater.

He found himself wondering what levels the pair could push the other towards, and almost found himself uncharacteristically anticipatory, as according to Yūri’s announcement at that press conference, he was very close to finding out…

~

Yūri let out a deep breath as he slowly worked his way through the six single jumps, one at a time, over and over again and memorizing the feelings to the best of his ability.

See, what he had told the press was true, about wanting to spend his school break with his friends and family in Hasetsu instead of stressing out over senior nationals, but he also hadn’t intended on going because he knew from the first timeline that his growth spurt was quickly approaching.

Thank any deity that may or may not exist that he didn’t have another competition until the Junior World Championships, which wasn’t until the end of February, going into March. Since he had made the decision to leave quads out of his jump roster for the time being, he should be able to get back to where he should be, at least until his second growth spurt hit.

Luckily, Yūri wasn’t going to grow very tall, and he was already mostly to his final height after this first growth spurt, so the one due to hit shortly before the next season started shouldn’t affect his skating quite as much as the first.

Besides, most of the issue with figure skaters and growth spurts was that they needed to regain their sense of equilibrium just as much as relearning how to do the jumps with a different body composition, and Yūri did more cross-training than any other figure skater he’d come across, so he had plenty of opportunities to refamiliarize himself with his body.

He’d stopped training on the ice as much as he usually did, though he made sure not to stop practicing completely, instead spending most of his time at the dance studio, where he was still paying for private practice time, doing yoga and other core-strengthening exercises in the mornings, and he’d even signed up for freerunning lessons at the local freerunning gym after seeing a demonstration.

He thought it looked interesting, and if nothing else, maybe he could pass on some tips to Yura in the future to escape his more handsy fans.

The best part of all of this, however, was that Celestino had finally approached him directly, having noticed he was quickly getting taller and offering tips on how to make the transition go more smoothly.

Not that Yūri didn’t know all of this already, having worked closely with a few sports psychologists over the years when he was co-coaching with Viktor and running Minako’s studio, but he still appreciated the thought, and made sure to show that he was following the advice.

He drew the line at using a jump harness, though. They were very useful for people who didn’t quite know how to land the jumps correctly, or didn’t have the confidence to do so without a safety net, but he’d used them enough in the original timeline to have an aversion to them.

Yūri would be fine once he stopped growing and regained control, which wouldn’t take long at the rate he was going.

Honestly, the transition was going much more smoothly than it had the first time around, now that Yūri knew better than to let his stubbornness overshadow his common sense and wasn’t taking the risks he had when he actually _was_ a teenager.

Though, to be fair, Viktor and Yura had been much worse around that age, so at least there was that.

Still, Celestino seemed to appreciate his maturity in the matter, and Yūri wasn’t at all inclined to let the man know that it was hard won instead of something that came naturally to Yūri.

Even better, it seemed like this was the push that finally encouraged the man to offer his services as an actual coach for Yūri, which Yūri had quickly approved of, though of course Celestino had to approach Mari (as Yūri’s legal guardian in the states) to make it official.

He would come with Yūri to Junior World’s (Japan had already advised him that he would be among their representatives) alongside Mari, and Minako would meet them there for her last stint as a figure skating coach, though her main priority would be to make sure Celestino was worthy of being Yūri’s teacher.

Viktor, had he known this, would give a firm answer in the negative, but he wouldn't have the chance to say so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT NOTES!
> 
> Yūri decided to send Viktor’s White Day gifts a few days early (according to my calculations theirs would be on the 19th of December), because the 2006-2007 season Grand Prix Finals were held from the 14th-17th, and if Yūri himself couldn’t be there for the competition, he wanted to be able to give Viktor something. What better than a personalized flower crown and his iconic Makkachin-style tissue holder, which Viktor didn’t yet have in this time? Also, Viktor was humming the Stammi Vicino Duetto, which I’m sure doesn’t surprise any of you. When Yakov told him to stop, he switched to humming Yuri On Ice.
> 
> Flower Meanings according to almanac.com:
> 
> Peony (pink): happy life, happy marriage  
> Myrtle (white): the emblem of marriage; true love  
> Violet (violet/purple-ish): devotion, loyalty, faithfulness, modesty
> 
> I don’t know what these would look like together in a bouquet or a flower crown, but they’re pretty flowers and they have meaning, so I don’t think Yūri or Viktor would care. 
> 
> As for Yūri:
> 
> Growth spurts can come at any point in teenage years, though of course boys usually get them a bit later, so I took some creative liberties with the timing here. Yūri is going to grow very rapidly for about a month, shooting up a few inches, during which he’ll be doing as much off-ice training as he can to get used to his body again. Once he stops growing he’ll be getting a new pair of skates, since his feet will have gotten bigger too, and have enough time to break them in before Worlds. He’ll have to get his costumes fixed in order to compensate for the new height and slightly leaner build, though.
> 
> This sounds easier than it actually is, but keep in mind that Yūri is an experienced coach who knows how to deal with it, has gone through this before so there’s not a nagging doubt he’ll be able to regain his skills, and the junior division doesn’t have Four Continents to worry about, so he has a bit more time to get used to his body before his next competition.
> 
> He still won't be doing any quads yet, though. He'll go a year in the senior division, getting through his next more minor growth spurt before adding them.


	28. Musings

Yūri looked at his older sister sympathetically as she threw herself into a frenzy studying for her finals.

She had decided to go for a degree in Interior Design, and when Viktor had finally answered her question about Yūri’s own level of degree (a Masters), she had decided to earn the same level to make them equal, despite Yūri’s own arguments at how she shouldn’t use him as a benchmark.

After all, that’s what he’d always done with Viktor when it came to skating, and before his husband started coaching him, he’d always been disappointed he couldn’t meet that impossible standard, even if others had considered him the best in his country.

Not that he had any doubt whatsoever that Mari would be more than successful, he was just trying to give her advice based on her own experiences.

Luckily, she understood what he meant, and didn’t take offense, reassuring him this was something she legitimately wanted to do, not just because of him.

As it was, she would probably end up staying in Detroit for another year or two after Yūri himself left for Saint Petersburg (as he and Viktor were currently in agreement on) in order to finish her degree, and Yūri found himself hoping she did, if only so Mari and Phichit would be able to be there for each other when Yūri couldn’t, since they’d become friends the first time around.

Speaking of his best friend, Phichit was finally opening up to his offers of friendship, though he’d seemed slightly intimidated after Yūri’s win at the Junior Grand Prix.

Yūri hadn’t thought about it, but it did make more sense that the older Phichit he’d known would be more self-assured and confident than his younger counterpart, but since Yūri’s attitude in their interactions didn’t change, and he was still as encouraging and willing to help, Phichit was able to get over the fact that he was friends with a champion a few years older than him.

It helped that Yūri bombarded the boy with hamster pictures whenever he could, and was more than willing to listen to his rants on the King and the Skater.

He couldn’t wait to be able to see his friend again. Hopefully he’d be able to arrange for Phichit to start training with Celestino early in another year or two.

Yūri was brought out of his thoughts by a groan from Mari, and he turned to see his sister’s head laying face down on the table.

After a long moment when she didn’t move, Yūri gave her a pat on the shoulder, and left the room for a moment.

~

Mari blinked sluggishly as she felt something cover her ears, and brought her hands up to find a pair of headphones had been placed on her head by Yūri, who skimmed through his playlist on the MP3 player in his hand before selecting Mari’s favorite album—the one that featured the guy she had given Yura his nickname after.

She closed her eyes, relaxing for the first time in the past few days as the music flowed through her—she wasn’t a dancer like Yūri or Minako, but she could appreciate a good song.

In what seemed like no time at all, Yūri was placing a bowl of katsudon in front of her, gently moving the open textbook away from her and removing it from her line of sight.

“You’ll do great on your exams, nee-chan.” He assured her quietly, handing her a pair of chopsticks and making sure she took a bite. “For now, just take a break. There’s no use working yourself into exhaustion.”

Mari knew from his stories that he had kind of been the master of self-sabotage before Viktor’s presence and love calmed him down a bit, so she nodded, resolving to try and relax for a while.

She didn’t express her gratitude out loud, but when she ruffled his hair later that night while they were watching a movie, she knew he got the message from the small smile on his face.

Damn, she was lucky to have him in her life.

She wondered how her counterpart had managed without him, since apparently she hadn’t been with him in Detroit the first time around.

Oh, god…she’d find out, wouldn’t she? After all, he’d be going to Russia practically as soon as he could, and the fact that he and Viktor fully intended to retire in Hasetsu didn’t help much when that was over a decade and a half away…

Best enjoy the closeness while it lasted.

~

While Yūri’s own finals weren’t until mid-January and he didn’t _have_ to start studying more in preparation as of yet, his sister’s work ethic gave him the urge to study, too.

Maybe it would help to negate the stress a bit more, too, not that he was all that worried about passing his classes, since a fair amount of what they covered was more review for him than something he was learning for the first time.

Even for his French class, his semi-decent knowledge of Italian helped with the comprehension, if not the pronunciation.

That didn’t mean he didn’t use it as an excuse to hear his husband speak in the language to ‘help him study’, though, and Viktor was thrilled at being able to charm him in the so-called language of love.

Viktor did go a little too far with his flirting, though, and Yūri’s protests that he wouldn’t be using any of _those_ words in class were met with laughter.

 “Careful, I’ll tell Christophe what you’re teaching me.” Yūri said with a feigned pout.

Viktor quieted immediately, and Yūri could almost hear him gulp nervously.

See, Christophe was under the impression that Yūri was completely innocent and pure-minded, despite him having made a few subtle jokes, and had actually gone so far as to cover Yūri’s ears at some point when someone passing by them cursed.

It was embarrassing, and completely unnecessary, but Yūri appreciated the concern, and now he was curious about how Chris would react to Viktor’s trying to ‘corrupt’ him.

It was pretty funny, honestly, now that Yūri thought about it. Considering how Chris would come to act in the future, you would think he would encourage Yūri being corrupted, but at this point he was just slightly protective.

Viktor, having been not-so-subtly threatened by Christophe just to make _sure_ that damned article was making false accusations and he wasn’t actually trying to seduce the now fifteen year old, was more wary of Chris’ hypothetical reaction to hearing his teasing.

Damn.

To think, it had originally been Chris who taught _him_ this stuff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3


	29. Building Friendships

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the awesome reviews, everyone! <3
> 
> Also, just in case anyone missed it, this is the second chapter I've posted that the system marked as being posted today, so if you haven't read the first one yet, go do that first!
> 
> Enjoy! :D

Kelly giggled as she was tackled to the ground by a chubby black Labrador puppy practically the moment she arrived for her shift at Pet Haven.

“Loki’s gotten pretty attached to you.” Leah smiled fondly as she glanced at the teenager, who didn’t seem at all bothered by the rather forceful greeting.

The auburn-haired girl beamed up at her, eyes shining happily. “I’m glad. I’ve already kind of fallen in love; he’s just so cute…”

It said a lot that she was talking about the dog, instead of the boy she had started volunteering here for. She had come a long way, and though she still thought Yūri was cute, it had settled into a friendship, and she spent her time focused on the animals instead of him.

Not to say she wasn’t still a member of her school’s chapter of the Katsuki Yūri Appreciation Squad (the main chapter was rumored to have been started by Viktor Nikiforov himself, to which the older teenager hadn’t denied when he was asked), but Kelly had long since realized her crush was a hopeless one, and she was okay with that.

“I’ve tried to talk mom into letting me adopt him, actually.” Kelly explained, biting her lip as she ducked her head sheepishly. “She’s not convinced I’m responsible enough…”

Leah knew that that had probably been hard to admit, but before she could reassure her, Yūri spoke up from where he’d been bringing in a large bag of dog food.

“Hello, Kelly.” The Japanese boy smiled, polite as always. “Sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear. Do you think it would help if your mom had an opportunity to see you take care of a dog?”

“Hm…I’m not sure.” Kelly’s eyebrows furrowed, slightly embarrassed that he’d heard them, but not really all that bothered by it. It wasn’t like he was about to make fun of her for it. “Probably. Why? Know anyone who won’t mind lending me their dog for a bit?”

She smiled at her joke, but blinked in surprise when Yūri hummed thoughtfully.

“Well, I have Vicchan, and I’d rather not leave him at a kennel while my sister and I are in Germany for my next competition…” he mused, as if the fact that he would be flying across the world to participate in the Junior World Championships was normal and not something completely amazing. “If you wanted to—“

Kelly’s eyes widened as she realized what he was suggesting. “Oh my—Yūri! Really? I would be honored! I’ll have to ask my mom, but…she met Vicchan one day when she came to pick me up, one of the days you brought him with you, and she thought he was adorable, so I doubt she’d say no!”

Yūri smiled in response to her excited grin. “We’ll work it out if she agrees. I’m sure Vicchan would appreciate the constant attention…”

Kelly nodded firmly, a glint in her eyes.

She was determined to convince her mom to let her bring Loki home and become an official member of the family, and if she could help a friend and play with his own adorable (but not quite as adorable as Loki) puppy while doing so, she was more than happy.

~

“Dude, you should probably soak in hot water for a while, if your muscles are that sore.” Jacob advised with a frown, watching his Japanese schoolmate grimace painfully as he carefully massaged his legs after their run.

Most people would be in pain just from the exercise itself, but considering Katsuki’s athleticism put them all to shame and he usually had no issue with it whatsoever, it was obviously something else.

Considering he had seemed to shoot up in the past few weeks, it was evident what was causing it, too, and Jacob found himself sympathetic.

Growing pains sucked, especially when they happened so quickly.

“I know.” Katsuki sighed forlornly. “I have been. I think my body got too used to the temperature of the baths at my parents onsen—er, hot springs. The water at my apartment doesn’t get hot enough for my taste. I suppose I didn’t quite realize how spoiled I was…”

Personally, Jacob thought it was hilarious that one of the more down-to-earth and selfless people at their entire school (despite his celebrity status and resulting popularity, which made it even more noteworthy) was calling himself spoiled, but he didn’t say anything.

“Oh yeah, those are public baths, right? Did you see any nude girls?” one of the other boys butt in, grinning and wiggling his eyebrows.

“No, and I wouldn’t have wanted to, either.” Katsuki wrinkled his nose in slight distaste. “I’ve only ever been attracted to one girl, and the most physical I ever wanted to get was holding her hand, so…”

A few of the boys hummed in acknowledgment to his point—it wasn’t a very well-kept secret that Katsuki was more or less in a relationship with that Russian guy, or at least that they were waiting for him to get a little older, so this was hardly a surprising revelation.

“So, you were attracted to a girl emotionally, but not physically?” Kyle asked, tilting his head. “Sorry if that’s a bit personal, I’m just a bit ignorant when it comes to the sexuality spectrum.”

“It’s fine.” Katsuki waved his hand dismissively. “I…guess I would consider myself demisexual? It’s not the same for everyone, but for me it basically means that I’m don’t become attracted to someone by looks or surface personality alone—I need to get to know the person before I let myself feel anything deeper. My lack of physical attraction towards Yūko-chan was what made me realize I was just confused about my feelings for her. She’s the one who introduced me to ice skating, and she was more or less my first friend, so in reality it was more gratitude and just being glad to have her as a friend than an actual crush.”

“How old were you when all this was happening, anyway?” Kyle asked after absorbing the explanation.

“Eh, I was about eight when I first met Yūko, and then thirteen when I got The Talk and realized I had no desire of ever doing anything like that with her.” Katsuki shuddered, lying slightly about the circumstances of how his crush had ended. “I mean, she’s great, and really pretty, but…ew. I’ll pass. I don't know if I ever would have been attracted to a different girl that way, but it's a nonissue at this point.”

Those listening laughed good-naturedly, even though most of them couldn’t relate.

“Guess your fans are in for disappointment.” Jacob teased lightly, not letting onto the fact that some of the guys within earshot could be counted among Katsuki’s fan club.

The Japanese boy chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “Yeah, it’s…flattering, if utterly bewildering, but I’m basically already married in my head, if I’m being honest.”

The guys in the room with crushes on him found themselves yet again disappointed by his words, and surprised at his seriousness, but once again weren’t too surprised.

Then someone brought up Nikiforov by name, and wondered aloud if Katsuki was ‘physically attracted’ to _him,_ causing Katsuki’s face to turn a dark red.

“What is this, some form of hazing?” he pouted adorably, simultaneously earning coos and laughs. “Here I thought you guys seemed nice…”

By the end of class, they had realized that the Japanese boy wasn’t the untouchable god some of them had previously viewed him as, and though a few were disappointed that he was hopelessly gone on his Russian friend and they stood no chance, they were happy to come away feeling like they’d gotten to know him a little better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3
> 
> The gym class scene was fun to write, since the usual possibility of homophobia in that kind of setting is obviously not a thing in the world of Yuri On Ice. No one paranoid or being a dick about changing in the locker room with Yuuri, for example.


	30. Twitter Shenanigans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Katsuki siblings are back in Hasetsu for Christmas, enjoying the reunion with their loved ones, when Minako decides to Tweet about it.
> 
> As always, it all quickly goes downhill...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for letting me know your thoughts, guys!
> 
> Okay, so I’ve basically decided not to let anyone else come back or be told. Chris and Phichit might get suspicious and start debating wild conspiracy theories, but that’s all they’d be. Viktor would tease them by confirming something did happen, and Yūri would roll his eyes, but they won’t get any confirmation about what. I MIGHT (and this is a big might) write a short one-shot at some point about if they did remember or were told, but that's about it.
> 
> Enjoy! <3

**Minako Okukawa** @HasetsuDanceStudio

@KatsudonYūri Proud of your self-control, but really, Yūri-kun, just eat some damn cake! #ChristmasCake

 **RussianLover** @skates5ever

As if a fat-ass that named himself after food needs cake! #disgusting #you don’t deserve Viktor Nikiforov

 **Y** **ūko-chan** @ Ice_Madonna

You must be blind. Yūri's abs could probably cut diamond. Even if they couldn’t, your profile pic leaves you looking like a hypocrite. :P

*insert image of shirtless Yūri in obviously fantastic shape, not realizing he’s being photographed*

 **Viktor Nikiforov** @v-nikiforov

Exactly, @Ice_Madonna. I’m sorry @skates5ever, we can’t seem to remember asking your opinion. Tell us when you start breaking world records!

 **Viktor Nikiforov** @v-nikiforov

Whoa, @KatsukidonYūri, your abs are better than mine! Tell us your secrets… ;)

 **Minako Okukawa** @HasetsuDanceStudio

That’s what happens when you’ve been dancing since you started walking. Should’ve listened to Lilia, Nikiforov. #danseur-abs

 **Katsuki Y** **ūri** @KatsudonYūri

Guys…please stop. I know I have weight issues. I can lose it again when I need to, so it’s not a big deal. @v-nikiforov @Ice_Madonna

 **Y** **ūko-chan** @Ice_Madonna

Not everyone is as chill about those types of insults as you are. If he’s saying it to you, I’m sure he says it to others. #STOMPOutBullying

~

 **Katsuki Mari** @theOlderSibling

He’s still groaning into the table. Also, this cake is awesome.

 **Viktor Nikiforov** @v-nikiforov

All cake is awesome, let’s be honest. Wish I could have some!

 **Katsuki Mari** @theOlderSibling

Mom caught on to our conversation. You’re invited for Christmas next year. Russian Nationals will be later than usual, right? @v-nikiforov

 **Viktor Nikiforov** @v-nikiforov

Yes! Tell her thank you, and I would love too! Do you think she would mind if I brought Makkachin with me? @theOlderSibling

 **Katsuki Y** **ūri** @KatsudonYūri

She won’t mind. We should probably bring Vicchan home with us next year, too. @theOlderSibling @v-nikiforov

 **Viktor Nikiforov** @v-nikiforov

Yay, I’ll finally get to meet him! Mari’s going withyou to Junior Worlds, right? Where will he be staying? @KatsudonYūri

 **Katsuki Y** **ūri** @KatsudonYūri

One of the friends I’ve made at school and work at the shelter with agreed to look after him for me. Thanks again, Kelly! @kelly-rae

 **Kelly Rae** @kelly-rae

You’re welcome, Yūri! Vicchan is so cute, I’m sure it’ll be a blast. :)

 **Viktor Nikiforov** @v-nikiforov

@kelly-rae Did you know Yūri named him after me?

 **Kelly Rae** @kelly-rae

I wondered, but I didn’t want to ask. So cute!

 **Viktor Nikiforov** @v-nikiforov

Isn’t it?! <3 <3 <3 I should get another puppy and name it Yū-chan…

 **Katsuki Y** **ūri** @KatsudonYūri

Viktor, don’t you dare! Also, you agreed to stop bringing this up! @v-nikiforov

 **Minako Okukawa** @HasetsuDanceStudio

Wait, Yūri-kun _told_ you about that? And you don’t mind?

 **Viktor Nikiforov** @v-nikiforov

Of course not! It’s extremely adorable and humbling. Cute, not creepy like things some fans do. *shudder* @HasetsuDanceStudio

 **Minako Okukawa** @HasetsuDanceStudio

True. I remember some pretty…disturbing tributes to me back when I still danced professionally. This really is tame, isn’t it? @v-nikiforov

 **Katsuki Y** **ūri** @KatsudonYūri

Oh my god… #kill me now #please

 **Katsuki Mari** @theOlderSibling

@v-nikiforov Did he tell you about the posters? He took them down a while ago, but…

 **Viktor Nikiforov** @v-nikiforov

I bet I have more!

*posts image of living room wall, covered in photos and posters of Yūri*

 **Minako Okukawa** @HasetsuDanceStudio

You…might be right. Oh my god. There had better not be any in your bedroom! *glare* @v-nikiforov

 **Viktor Nikiforov** @v-nikiforov

No, Yūri threatened to stop talking to me if I put them up in there.

 **Katsuki Y** **ūri** @KatsudonYūri

What is it, Embarrass Yūri Day?

 **Takeshi** @Elephant_on_Skates

Oh Yūri-kun, didn’t you know? That’s every day!

 **Katsuki Y** **ūri** @KatsudonYūri

Yūko-chan, if you please? @Ice_Madonna

 **Y** **ūko-chan** @Ice_Madonna

On it! @KatsudonYūri

 **Takeshi** @Elephant_on_Skates

Ouch! Did you seriously just make my girlfriend punch me?! @KatsudonYūri

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3
> 
> Actual Christmas interactions with the Katsuki family will take place next chapter, I just had the urge to take to Twitter for this one.


	31. Surprises and Understandings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! <3

Yūri turned off his alarm barely a second after it went off, not wanting to risk his parents being woken up from it, though that was more paranoia than anything since his room was far from theirs.

Usually he wouldn’t even need the alarm to wake up this early, since he had gotten into the habit of waking for early morning training, but he hadn’t adjusted his inner clock yet.

He showered and dressed swiftly, and within ten minutes was sneaking into his parents’ room to turn off their own alarm, grace from years of figure skating making his steps light enough that even his mom, who was a light sleeper, remained oblivious.

When he got to the kitchen, it was to find Mari already getting started on cooking breakfast for their parents, and he joined her with a smile.

They were just about to put the food on a tray to take to their parents when their mother came rushing into the room, panicked.

“Oh dear, my alarm didn’t go off, we’re behind—“ she started to say, looking frazzled, before pausing as she caught sight of her children standing there, blank-faced and taken by surprise at her appearance, with food on the stove behind them. “Mari-chan? Yūri-kun? What are you…”

Mari sighed, and Yūri smiled fondly.

“I should’ve known turning your alarm off wouldn’t stall you for long, mom.” Her son chuckled, bounding forward to give her a peck on the cheek. “I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to freak you out.”

“…What?” Hiroko wondered, still utterly bewildered.

“It’s Christmas Eve, mom.” Mari said, uncharacteristically gentle. “Yūri and I thought you and dad should spend the day together, and we can take care of the onsen for the day. We were just about to bring you two breakfast in bed…”

Hiroko gaped at her children in shock at the incredibly thoughtful gesture.

“Oh!” she nearly sobbed, feeling so lucky to have been the one to bring these two into the world. “Thank you, dears. Are you sure it’s not too much?”

“Too much? It’s not enough.” Yūri chuckled, taking the tray of food into his arms as Mari looped her arm with their mom’s, nodding in agreement with her brother’s words. “We’ll do something as a family tomorrow, but for now, just enjoy your time with dad.”

Hiroko gave a beaming smile, hiccupping slightly as happy tears graced her eyes, and allowed herself to be led back to her room by two of the three brightest lights in her world.

~

Yūri and Mari slumped in unison as they finished clean-up for the day. Their parents, at their children's insistence, had agreed to relax for the day, and ended up going out to lunch before spending the rest of the day wandering around town.

“That was exhausting.” Yūri groaned slightly as he stretched his tired muscles.

“I think word got out that you were on shift today.” Mari sighed warily. “We were probably busier because of that. That’s what you get for being a gold medalist, Mr. Celebrity.”

“I’ll have to keep that in mind.” Yūri snorted, before falling quiet for a moment. “You know, I never really got used to that.”

Mari hummed inquisitively.

“Even when Viktor became my coach and I started being recognized more often, to everyone here I was still…they still treated me as the boy who had been born and raised here.” He smiled incredulously. “They were proud, even when I felt like a failure after my first Grand Prix Finals, because I was following my dream. It took a long time to realize that the people here didn’t care if I medaled, unlike what seemed like the rest of Japan.”

“We’re so close-knit here, as a community. Not like in Detroit, or Saint Petersburg, though I’ll never regret living there.” Yūri paused. “It’s one of the reasons Viktor fell in love with this place so much he wanted to retire here.”

Mari grinned, glancing at her brother wryly. “Oh yes, I’m sure that’s the only reason.”

Yūri flushed, about to protest, when Mari continued.

“But no, I see what you mean.” She hummed. “We left, to the other side of the _world,_ for you to be able to further your career, and for me to get the degree I’d apparently been regretting not getting the first time, but we’re still…still accepted, here. I was kind of worried my friends would snub me, at least, but they were just happy for me. Well, for both of us.”

Yūri smiled. “I’m sure the omiyage you brought back for them helped.”

Mari laughed. “Well, yeah, there’s that too. Who doesn’t like souvenirs?”

~

Yūko blinked in surprise at the sight that greeted her when she arrived at Ice Castle for her shift, where she had only recently started working.

“Mama Katsuki?” she blurted out in surprise, catching sight of the older woman’s wobbly figure being guided around by her best friend, while Takeshi was trying to help Yūri’s dad on the other side of the rink.

“Yūri and I surprised mom and dad yesterday, and this is their way of thanking him for his part.” Yūko barely managed to jump as Yūri’s sister came up from behind her, smiling wryly. “Our parents support him, but they don’t really understand what draws him to the ice. So they’re trying to find out.”

Yūko’s breath hitched slightly, feeling ecstatic for her friend, who she knew was sometimes affected by the lack of being understood by his parents. “They couldn’t have found a better way to thank him.”

Mari nodded in acknowledgment. “Yūri dragged me onto the ice, but my muscles are still too sore from our shift yesterday, so I wasn’t skating for long. I don’t know how he does it. At least he’s not doing any jumps right now.”

“Stamina and bullheaded stubbornness.” Takeshi muttered as he and Yūri’s dad passed, causing the older man to chuckle in agreement as he gripped the railing.

“He gets that from his mother!” the man cheerfully claimed.

Mari laughed at the familiar words. “Whatever you say, dad.”

The four looked on fondly as Yūri slowly led his mother into a very simple dance once she was comfortable enough on her skates not to fall, and she didn’t, trusting her son.

“Whoa.” Takeshi’s eyes widened in surprise. “It’s not easy skating with someone like that, especially if the other party is inexperienced. I wonder what he could do with someone who knows what they’re doing.”

“I’m not planning to get into Pair Skating or Ice Dancing, but maybe you’ll find out at some point.” Yūri called, having gotten close enough to hear that last part.

“Maybe Minako-senpai would be better suited for this…” Hiroko said, slightly sheepish at how she was holding her son back, though he didn’t seem to mind in the slightest.

Yūri laughed. “Minako-sensei is the best dancer I know, but she is NOT meant for the ice.”

“Viktor-san then?” Yūko winked, dismissing her option because she was self-aware enough to know that while she was the most skilled female skater in town, she came nowhere near Yūri’s level, and never would.

Yūri flushed as everyone laughed at the suggestion, but winked back after a moment. “Ice Dancing and Pair Skating are for different-sex partners, but we wouldn’t need to do it for competition. I guess you’ll just have to wait and find out, won’t you?”

As everyone’s jaw dropped in surprise at his words (Mari’s especially, since she realized that he _meant_ it, and that it must have happened in the first timeline), he skated backwards, staring up at the ceiling and humming to himself.

He ignored the questions they were shooting at him, and eventually they gave up, though Yūko leaned into her boyfriend.

“He wasn’t joking, was he?” she whispered.

“No, I don’t think so.” Takeshi breathed out. “I don’t doubt he’ll manage to make it happen, too, with how much Nikiforov seems to…well.”

Yūko nodded in understanding at what he was getting at. She’d lived in a state of shock for a long while when she realized that not only did Yūri know Viktor Nikiforov, but the Russian seemed practically enamored with him, if his Twitter was anything to go by.

“That pair skate is going to be amazing to watch.” She said with a smile.

He was about to respond, but then Hiroko-san asked to see the step sequences in Yūri’s free skate routine, and he obediently flew through the moves of the level four sequence, the highest level of difficulty, with zero mistakes or hesitation.

“I wonder if they’ll end up creating a level five just to account for his skill.” Takeshi smirked proudly.

Yūko laughed. “You know, that wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.”

It didn’t take long for the elder Katsuki’s eyes to lighten in wonder and understanding, now having a better idea of just how talented their son was. Not that they had ever doubted it for a second, but seeing what he could do without paying any attention, compared to their own dependence on their guides not to fall…

This newfound appreciation led them to paying far more attention as their son’s Russian friend performed his short program in his national competition, having only stopped texting their son right before he had to get on the ice.

The elder Katsuki adults almost felt ashamed at how thrilled Yūri was to answer their many questions, since some of them were pretty basic and they _really_ should have known, considering he competed internationally in the same sport, but their son seemed to hold no ill-will.

He beamed proudly when it was announced that his ‘friend’ (oh, they knew it was more than that, but they trusted Minako-san and their daughter when they said they had nothing to worry about) was in first place after the short program with a huge lead, though he did end up muttering slightly about how Viktor’s step sequence could be better with a slight adjustment, and added the observation in his congratulations text.

Some people might have thought it arrogant, how Yūri was offering advice to one of the best skaters in the world while still technically a junior himself, but…from what his parents could tell, the moves he’d shown them earlier were indeed noticeably better than the ones their son’s former idol had just done.

It was a strange world, but all of this helped them realize something very important.

Their Yūri was _born_ to be on the ice.

Better yet, if the many people who had been contacting them lately regarding possible sponsorship and endorsement deals for their son were anything to go by (they had decided not to mention them to Yūri until the next day), they weren’t the only ones who thought so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3
> 
> Minako wasn't there because she was helping with a production of The Nutcracker, which according to my 5-second bout of research Japan does have. Minako originally strong-armed Yuuri into participating in the original timeline, but in this one he obviously wasn't readily available, so she had to admit defeat. That, and she was there for the press conference where he said he wasn't competing in senior nationals because he wanted to spend a stress-free Christmas with his family, and she didn't want to rob him of that. 
> 
> In Japan, Christmas Eve is more for couples, while Christmas Day is more for family. 
> 
> Omiyage are basically gifts you bring back for people when you travel. It’s extremely common, and can be taken as an insult if one isn’t given.


	32. Finances

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: I am in no way affiliated with any companies or other entities I mention, and I know very little about any of them beyond their Wikipedia pages, so I don’t know if them supporting athletes falls in line with their advertising techniques. That being said, I’m using them anyway. :P
> 
> Enjoy! <3

“Huh?” Yūri gaped in surprise at the actual _list_ of companies interested in offering him sponsorship and/or endorsement deals. He was silent for a long moment. “This…what?”

Minako grinned proudly, back from her ‘business trip’, and slapped him on the shoulder. “I’m the one who was getting the calls, but I passed on the names to Hiroko-kohai since obviously I didn’t have any authority to sign any contracts for you. Not bad for a junior, eh?”

Yūri blinked down, slowly processing the names on the list, before taking a deep breath and steeling himself.

“I’d like to work something out with Mizuno.” He recalled that they had supported him the first time around, even after he bombed the Sochi GPF, and he genuinely liked their products. Even now, most of his sporting equipment was from them, partly due to his appreciation and loyalty.

Minako nodded. “Good choice. I thought their initial offer was pretty generous, and it’s probably gotten higher since then. The first time they called was right after The Hague, but now that you’re apparently in higher demand…”

“I’d be fine taking them up on their initial offer.” Yūri flushed, slightly embarrassed at his godmother’s comments. “They were willing to offer aid before knowing whether or not I would do well at the finals.”

“Probably because they fell for your emotional manipulation at the press conference.” Minako snorted. “Anyway, I’ll let you and your parents work it out with them. Just look through the list and see if anything else jumps out at you.”

Yūri skimmed it obediently. “Unicharm? That’s the brand of dog food we give Vicchan…but why…?”

“Oh, that one.” Minako barked out a laugh. “I thought it was weird, too, so I asked. Apparently one of their employees is a fan of yours and follows you on Twitter. She showed her manager a picture you had posted of Vicchan with a bowl of food that got a lot of likes and was reposted a lot. She had thought the dog food looked familiar and that you were using their brand, and he agreed, so they sent that information up the chain.”

She paused, before giving him a smirk at his gaping expression at the unlikely situation. “Apparently your growing popularity and the fact that the girls you work with at the animal shelter regularly tag you in things and mention you regularly volunteer there made you pretty appealing to the company.”

Yūri tried to get his jaw to work, and it took a few moments, but he managed it.

“What are the odds of that?!” he managed to choke out.

Minako shrugged. “High enough that it happened. That, or you’re just really lucky.”

“Luck.” Yūri decided, still mostly of the opinion that all of the things he’d managed to accomplish were more luck than any particular skill on his part, though everyone he knew would disagree with that (and did, if they were aware he thought that way).

He folded the piece of paper and put it in his pocket, trying not to think about some of the other prominent business names he’d caught sight of.

He would deal with it later, once he’d had a chance to talk to Viktor about it. Yūri still needed to scold him for sending his gold medal from nationals to him for another kiss anyway, especially since there hadn’t been any guarantee it would get to Japan before Yūri and Mari had to fly back to Michigan.  

~

“Canon?” Viktor blinked in surprise as he looked at his love from Yūri’s laptop screen. “The camera company?”

“Yeah.” Yūri picked at the edge of his blanket, a nervous habit he’d never quite managed to kick. “I did a Q+A video a few weeks ago, and someone asked me what camera I’ve been using, so I told them. I guess someone brought it to their attention, and they thought the travel vlogs from France, the Netherlands, and Bulgaria were interesting. They asked if I would be willing to mention that I’m also using the camera for the vlogs, not a camcorder, if I’m intending to post a video from my trip to Germany, too.”

“Damn.” Viktor was evidently very impressed. “This is for YouTube, not figure skating?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “I’ve mentioned the onsen in videos, and obviously I don’t hide the fact I’m from Hasetsu, so I guess it was pretty easy to narrow down the right onsen to get in contact our parents.”

Viktor gave a smile at the ‘our parents’, knowing that Yūri was including _him_ , not talking about Mari. He had always greatly appreciated the fact that he had been welcomed so genuinely into the Katsuki family in the first timeline, and couldn’t wait to meet Yūri’s parents again.

Hopefully they wouldn’t think it too presumptuous if he slipped and accidentally started calling them mom and dad, which he was sure was going to end up happening. It was instinctual to think of them as such, after all these years.

“I hope you’ll let me be in at least your video for the GPF next year, Yūri.” Viktor drawled with a teasing wink. “I’m sure your fans will love it.”

“You’re assuming I’ll qualify.” Yūri pointed out dryly, though he didn’t let the topic linger, knowing Viktor would just scoff and deny the possibility of Yūri not making it there. Yūri admitted it was unlikely he would fall short, but if enough competitors outshined his quad-free programs…

‘Let’s worry about Worlds before obsessing over my chances for next season.’ He thought to himself wryly, and with a shake of his head, dismissed the negative train of thought. 

“Anyway, don’t pretend I won’t see you before then.” Yūri continued with a fond smile.

Viktor shifted slightly with a smile. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean, dearest. Heartbreaking as it is, the reality is that we might not be assigned to the same qualifiers.”

Yūri rolled his eyes. “Dad mentioned that my ‘foreign boyfriend’ had called to make a reservation for the off-season, conveniently starting a couple of days after Mari and I start school break. He and mom haven’t stopped teasing me about it. It’s more than a little embarrassing.”

Viktor laughed, unashamed. “Good to know he doesn’t seem to disapprove of me already. I’m more worried about Minako, to be honest.”

“Minako-sensei?” Yūri blinked in surprise. Now that he thought about it, she _had_ acted a little strange around Viktor when he surprised Yūri in Bulgaria. His eyes narrowed. “What did she do?”

Viktor shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, Yūri. She was just being a good godmother.”

“Vitya…” Yūri warned, but his husband refused to say another word on the subject.

~

“No way…” Mari muttered with narrowed eyes as she filed her taxes for the year—she had only been an adult in Japan for a year before moving to Detroit, so taking into account the differences between filing for the two countries, she thought she would organize everything early, just in case, even if it was too early to actually file them.

“What?” Yūri wondered from where he was sitting on the floor, notebook in hand as he played with ideas for his programs next season.

He was firm in his decision not to include quads yet, but he still wanted to have a high base value. So long as he did well for the performance components, and did well enough for the grade of execution bonuses, he should be able to stand up to Viktor and Chris’ quad-inclusive skates…

“The stocks you and Viktor-niisan (AN: the 'older brother' honorific is intentional; due to the time travel she's subconsciously referring to him as older in a way she can't seem to with the brother whose diapers she changed) convinced me to invest in.” Mari explained, still staring at the computer screen blankly and therefore missing Yūri’s beaming smile at the familial honorific she had given Viktor. “I…you guys had told me they would be doing well in the future, but I didn’t expect to see a return this quickly.”

Yūri laughed. “Yeah, Viktor mentioned those were doing pretty well.”

After all, why convince Mari to take advantage of their knowledge from the future if they weren’t going to do the same?

It was probably a bit unethical, and they did feel a bit guilty about that, but they weren’t buying controlling shares, and who was going to complain?

“Look at it this way; if you still intend to insist on paying Viktor back, it won’t take long.” Yūri said with a cheeky grin. “Though there’s a very high chance he’d find a way to get the money back to you anyway, so I wouldn’t bother.”

Mari just shook her head numbly, not prepared to deal with the numbers she was seeing or further confirmation of her future brother-in-law being Extra, before deciding to move on to the next topic. “You lived in Detroit for five years, so you must have filed taxes, right?”

Yūri hummed in agreement.

“Help me.” Mari almost begged. “I’m able to list you as my dependent, since mom and dad made me your…I’ll call it acting guardian, but do I need to take your skating costs and prize money into account? What about the money you’ve started getting by monetizing your videos on YouTube?! You know the AdSense account is under my name since you’re a minor*!”

At that one, Yuri paused. “I don’t know about the rink and coaching fees, but as for the YouTube part, we haven’t had them send the money to us yet, so until they do I wouldn’t consider it part of your income? Once we do we’ll have to pay taxes on it, but at the moment…actually, I should double-check that one. As for the prize money…I don’t think so? I arranged for that, at least, to be deposited into mom and dad’s account, not yours, so I don’t see why you’d have to include it.”

As he thought about the situation more—Viktor sending them money via Mari’s bank account for them to pay the bills, since it was less of a hassle than Viktor trying to pay them directly from Russia, he realized that if they wanted to file this correctly and not risk getting in trouble…

“Yeah, we should probably have someone look over this for us.” He murmured with a slight cringe. “Just to make sure.”

Mari sighed, resigned.

At least she’d had the foresight to not wait until the last minute, because this might take a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3
> 
> I figure it at least makes sense for Mizuno to be one of Yūri’s sponsors, since he’s seen multiple times in the anime wearing their logo, though more prominently on his blue Team Japan jacket. If I could figure out what the other logos on that jacket are from (aside from the JSF one, obviously), I would try and include them, too.
> 
> I've noticed Canon seems to be one of the sponsors for figure skating, as I see their banner lining ice rinks in competition videos on YouTube, and when I noticed that I couldn't resist throwing them in here. 
> 
> As for Unicharm, I just did a Google search of the biggest pet product companies in Japan, and that was among them. They also have products not related to pets, such as baby supplies, which I figure may come in handy later on when Yūko gets pregnant…after all, Yūri was considering ways to help with the Nishigori family’s finances, and of course he’ll mention how his oldest friends are expecting triplets. ;)
> 
> As for monetizing videos on YouTube (I found an article that explained how a minor could potentially do so), Yuuri couldn't do it under his name because obviously he can't sign a contract yet and the bank account it's attached to would have needed to be in his name. Mari had to get a YouTube channel under her name, post a couple videos with original content, and wait to be given the option to monetize them. From there, she had to create an AdSense account, which is what YouTube pays their content creators through. Then she had to link Yuuri's channel to it, and they can switch it over later when he turns 18 and can get his own AdSense account. So any money Yuuri makes from YouTube would actually be going to Mari right now, though like I said at the moment the numbers are just building and they haven't bothered to have the first check sent, yet.


	33. Katsukidon Revealed (not that is was particularly a secret...)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, looks like the scene regarding Mari filing her taxes might have been a little too real. Sorry for any war flashbacks that may have caused!
> 
> Enjoy! <3

Yūri sighed.

He had hoped to keep his YouTube life and figure skating career apart, but one of his subscribers had mentioned how much he looked like…well, _himself_ , and after that it didn’t take long for his viewers to conclude that YouTuber (not that the term had been coined yet) Katsukidon and figure skater Katsuki Yūri were one and the same.

Of course, he did admit to himself that he probably should have chosen a pseudonym that didn’t include his actual last name…it would end up becoming perfectly normal later on for people to know YouTubers’ full names (many didn’t even bother with a username), but for now most people just used aliases.

Oh well. Too late now…

To deal with the fallout in the comments of his videos regarding the matter, he decided to bite the bullet and make Q+A video, this time asking for questions on his Twitter, which caused a lot of ‘I told you so’s from viewers who had been stalking his account to try and prove he was Katsukidon.

The video was a strange one, with some people being slightly huffy that he hadn’t mentioned he was kind of a celebrity, and some of them asked about his relationship with Viktor, but all he said about Viktor was that he was someone Yūri wanted to hold on to in life.

Later on, once he’d seen the video, Viktor would swoon at the words, remembering the first time they had been said at the press conference decades ago when Yūri had basically confessed to loving Viktor, though at the time Yūri hadn’t been sure what kind of love it was.

~

**[The Realities of Being a Professional Athlete]**

_“Konnichiwa, everyone!” Yūri smiled softly as the video began. “So, among the questions I received when I did my last Q+A video, I got an interesting one that I thought deserved a far more detailed answer than I could give in a shorter video—seriously, this one is going to be long, so if you’re not interested or don’t have enough time feel free to stop watching. Anyway, I thought I would address his question separately.”_

_He glanced at his phone, pulling up the relevant Tweet._

_“I recently read an article about you in one of my favorite magazines. They mentioned you’d accepted a few endorsement and sponsorship deals recently, and I was curious about why?” Yūri read aloud, briefly showing the screen to the camera. “Er…for those of you who are new to this channel and are confused about why I would possibly be in a magazine, I’m a figure skater in the competitive circuit.”_

_“Anyway, to answer the question, let’s put things into perspective.” He suggested. “First, I’m living abroad, and my sister Mari, who is currently my legal guardian, is a full-time university student. The move was too abrupt for her to have the time to apply for any scholarships, so she’s paying for that out of pocket. Then there’s living costs, like rent and utilities, groceries, transportation, medical insurance…so yeah, there are a lot of things we need to take into consideration.”_

_He didn’t mention, of course, that Viktor was paying for it, not Mari, because that wasn’t the point._

_“Second, figure skating is actually extremely expensive, even for people who only skate recreationally. If you want to be able to land higher revolution jumps, you need a pair of skates that can support you…”_

_He went over to pick up his own pair of skates, showing them to the camera. “I have two pairs, because if something happens to this set, I need to be able to continue practicing in—or even compete in—a pair that I’ve already broken in. Both pairs, and I’m talking separately here, cost upwards of about 130,000 Japanese Yen, or if you’re more used to American currency, about $1,200. It depends on the skate and the blade, of course, so there are more…economical, I suppose options, but when you want to participate in a sport professionally you want high-quality equipment.”_

_He set the pair of skates aside. “Then there’s the costumes figure skaters wear in competition. Typically, you need at least three per season, unless you plan to change your programs and want something else to wear. One for the short program, one for the free skate, and one for the exhibition skate. It’s important to be prepared for that last one even if you don’t think you’re going to make the podium. Costumes can easily cost $2,000 American dollars, so that adds up, too.”_

_He picked up his camera and went over to his closet, showing where he had carefully hung up his costumes for the season._

_“These are the costumes I’ve been wearing this season, and they were made by an upcoming designer I used to take dance classes with. She wanted to build her portfolio, so we came to an agreement that she would provide me with this season’s costumes for a discounted price, and in return I would, of course, wear them to my competitions and give credit to her if anyone asked who designed them. I really like the designs, so chances are I’ll ask if she can design next season’s, as well. Anyway, there’s a link to her Twitter account down in the video’s description, if you’re interested.”_

_He paused, glancing into the camera sheepishly. “Since we’re on the topic anyway, I can honestly say that that providing her information isn’t part of an endorsement or anything—we’ve both fulfilled our end of the deal, so I’m not obligated to do anything else. At least, I don’t think it counts…I’m just big on giving credit where it’s due.”_

_Yūri shook his head, wanting to get back on topic. “Anyway, so…I covered the cost of skates, costumes…I’ll touch on rink and coaching fees next, I guess.”_

_“Renting time at an ice rink can get very expensive, very quickly, especially when you’re there every day for hours at a time.” He explained. “I was very lucky that my home rink, Ice Castle Hasetsu, was owned by my friend’s family and I was usually there with Yūko-chan and our friend Takeshi-kun. I was given a LOT of leeway there when I still lived in Hasetsu, but ordinarily rink fees alone add a fair bit of expense.”_

_He tilted his head. “As for coaching…well, that depends on the coach, really. Some charge more than others, some charge by the hour, most earn a percentage of any competition winnings…and of course you want to take into account how popular figure skating is in the country you’re training in, too. My situation with Minako-sensei, my stand-in coach this season, is fairly unique because on top of having been my mentor my entire life, she’s also my godmother, so she’s really stubborn about not accepting any monetary compensation, especially since she was already intending to come to all of my competitions this season so she wasn’t paying any more in travel costs than she would have if she was there purely as a spectator. As for my coach for next season…well, I can’t give any details on who it is, since Minako-sensei insisted she needs to give the green light and she hasn’t had a chance to meet them yet, and the actual coaching fee they’re charging actually falls under a non-disclosure agreement. Sorry, but I’m not willing to face the legal repercussions of breaking that.”_

_“Then there’s the choreography, which, unless you do it yourself, you have to pay for.” Yūri moved on to the next topic. “Then you have to make sure you get the consent of whoever holds the right to the music you use unless, again, you have something composed specifically for your use, and make sure you have all of the licenses required. I won’t go into the costs of that kind of thing, because like with coaches, rates differ from person to person.”_

_“Then there’s any expenses for cross-training, which I’m doing more of right now because I’m trying to get used to my new height.” Yūri continued. “Rental fees to get a room at the dance studio I frequent, and there’s a local freerunning gym I’ve taken a few classes at. I do get a student discount, though, so it doesn’t cost as much as it would if I was older.”_

_He sighed. “Lastly…the travel expenses. I can’t wait until I’m old enough for a credit card. I’ll choose one with travel-related rewards points; that should add up quickly. Airfare, hotels, food…the usual. Just getting our equipment where they need to be is expensive and a huge pain, considering, you know…the blades on ice skates. Ugh. Sometimes the event organizers will pay for at least some of the expenses--for ISU competitions especially, so that’s nice.”_

_Trailing off for a moment, wondering if there was anything he’d missed, he decided that he’d hit on the important parts, at least. “Anyway, I can promise that I’m not going to endorse something I don’t genuinely like, but I really do kind of need outside funding if I want to continue skating. That’s just…the reality of it, if I’m being honest. Like I said earlier, most figure skaters pay their own way. Sometimes their country will take on some of the expenses—in China they’ll cover it all, or so I’ve heard—but that’s not the case for everyone. So…that’s your answer, I guess?”_

_He went on for another 30 seconds, awkwardly saying goodbye and thanking those who had watched it before the video ended._

~

**(thread)**

**KitKat321** Wow, I had no idea! Sorry Yūri, I wasn’t trying to accuse you of anything!

 **Katsukidon** No, no, you’re fine! I definitely understand the curiosity. There was just a lot of background information, and it felt like too much to explain in the actual Q+A.

 **KitKat321** Oh my gosh! I didn’t think you would actually respond to this! I thought it would get lost in the sea of comments…ヾ((●＞□＜)ﾉ*:..｡o○ＳＯЯЯЧ○o。..:*ヽ(＞□＜●))ﾉｼ

 **Katsukidon** A lot of people ‘thumbed up’ yours, so it was up near the top. (*´∀`*)

~

**(thread)**

**LazySusan9** “I’m a figure skater in the professional circuit” indeed. Katsuki-san, you’re too humble!

 **BeanBoy13** What do you mean?

 **LazySusan9** Just that he currently holds _three world records_ for the junior men’s singles division. He totally obliterated the old ones earlier in the season. It was amazing…

 **BeanBoy13**          Damn. You’d think a person would want to mention that.

 **Sk8Lover**             I guess he doesn’t want to become one of _those_ people???

 **BeanBoy13**          Maybe, but there is a difference between being a braggart and acknowledging your accomplishments. It’s not like it would have been off-topic if he _had_ mentioned it…

 **Sk8Lover** That’s true…

 **BeanBoy13**          He seems like a cool dude, though. I’m curious. Anyone have any links so I can check out his world record-breaking…is performances the word?

 **LazySusan9**         Performances, skates, programs, routines…doesn’t particularly matter. Here you go! *insert various links here*

 **LazySusan9**         That last link is to a blog that will explain the comments regarding the so-called ‘scandal’ between Katsuki-san and Viktor Nikiforov, a Russian skater. Ugh, stupid gossip rags trying to tear apart their reputations over nothing…

 **BeanBoy13**          Thanks! Huh. Wasn’t Nikiforov in the Olympics last year? Figure skating is pretty much the only sport in the Winter Olympics my family watches. I thought I’d heard something about that…

 **LazySusan9**          That’s him, alright. They’re pretty close, but I very much doubt they’re as close as the article was accusing them of. Maybe in a few years, but they’ve been very clear on their social media accounts that everything is age-appropriate between them right now.

 **BeanBoy13** Innocent until proven guilty. *shrug* Besides, people probably wouldn’t be in an uproar defending the guy if there was any basis to the rumors. Common sense.

 **LazySusan9**          Common sense isn’t actually as common as the name implies, but I agree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3


	34. Junior World Championships

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! <3

Kelly grinned down at the toy poodle in her lap as she fumbled with the TV remote to try and find the channel her friend’s competition was being broadcasted on.

“Ah, just in time!” she grinned as she heard the announcers list the competitors who had made it to the free skate.

Obviously Yūri was one of them, having done extremely well during the short program, if not as well as during the Junior Grand Prix series because of his growth spurt. From the way the announcers were talking about how talented he must be to have recovered from the extra height so quickly, even if he wasn’t quite in top form yet, no one blamed him for the lower score, as it was perfectly normal for skaters going through a growth spurt to see a sharp decline in ability afterwards.

Kelly wasn’t surprised he’d managed to regain most of his skill, considering she knew how hard he’d been working at regaining control over his body. One of her resolutions for the New Year was to try and develop a better work ethic, and Yūri was a fantastic example to aspire to.

“Oh, what is this?” her mother’s voice distracted her from listening to the commentary, and she turned to see her mother’s eyes widen in awe as she took in the image presented on the screen, where the cameras were currently focused on Yūri, talking about his recent accomplishments. “Oh my…”

Kelly tilted her head curiously. “What?”

“I…it’s a bit silly.” Her mother admitted sheepishly, almost rueful. “When you mentioned your friend there had to go to Germany for a competition, I just…well, I didn’t expect this. I didn’t realize the competition would be this big.”

“Well, they are the Junior World Championships…” Kelly raised an eyebrow, causing her mom’s mouth to open slightly in shock, eyes widening even further. “I’m fairly sure I mentioned that…”

“I guess I need to pay more attention.” Her mother said with a slightly breathless laugh, looking at her daughter apologetically.

Kelly shrugged. “Want to watch it with me? Yūri’s going to be skating second to last, since he was second after the first part of the competition.”

“Second place, at fifteen?” her mother breathed out, impressed.

Kelly snorted. “Mom, I know you tend to tune out my fangirl rants, but come on.”

Which of course led her into a detailed explanation about Yūri’s record-obliterating accomplishments, and by the end of it her mom actually felt _honored_ that such a person had trusted her daughter to look after his dog.

Adults were so weird…

~

Yūri glanced to the side warily as Minako and Celestino stared each other down, having been arguing about which one of them would be rinkside with him.

Eventually, Minako scowled, crossing her arms huffily. “Contractually, you are not yet his coach.”

“Perhaps, but one could argue that you’re not even an actual coach, so he should have someone available with more experience.” Celestino returned.

Minako narrowed her eyes at him. “Yūri knows what he’s doing. If I’m being honest, he doesn’t _need_ anything from either of us. My main role this season has purely been as support at competitions; he did everything else himself. You may have more experience with the skating aspect, Cialdini, but if I were you I wouldn’t expect him to depend too much on you. What he needs right now is support; someone who knows how to—“

Deal with his anxiety, she was about to say, but she cut herself off because a) Yūri was _right there_ , and b) she didn’t know if Yūri had been open enough with Cialdini to make him aware of it in the first place.

Yūri wasn’t bothered by that, however, instead focusing on what she’d said before then, and winced at her words.

He’d never meant to make Minako feel like that was the only thing she could contribute. It was thanks to her support that he was even _here_ , and he would never be able to thank her enough for that.

Likewise, while admittedly he really didn’t need Celestino’s coaching, the man had been the one to take a chance on him in the original timeline, and though he wasn’t a perfect teacher, Yūri had hardly been the epitome of a perfect student, either.

He certainly didn’t blame the man for not having been able to break through the walls Yūri had built around himself. Celestino had done the best he could with what Yūri had given him to work with. He was a good coach for those who he clicked with, like Phichit. For people like Yūri and JJ (it been a shock to find out Celestino had coached the Canadian when he was younger before the kid’s parents took over as his coaches), however…they didn’t mesh nearly as well.

“Yūri-kun?” Minako prompted, and he turned towards the two, who looked at him expectantly.

“Yes?” he asked wryly.

“Which one of us—“ Celestino began.

“Yūri!” a very familiar voice came up from behind, and Yūri whipped around to see…

“Viktor!” he beamed at his husband, running forward and burrowing himself into the Russian’s arms, which wrapped around him in an instant, holding him tightly. “You didn’t tell me you were coming!”

Usually he might have been annoyed that Viktor took time away from his own training to come see him, but Europeans had already come and gone (with Viktor placing gold as usual), and there was still some time before the senior World Championships.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Viktor promised.

Yūri felt something loosen in his chest as he quietly breathed in the familiar scent. He hadn’t quite realized how much he needed to see Viktor in person until now. Likewise, Viktor practically melted against him.

Viktor must have been thinking along the same lines, because he leaned forward and quietly whispered into Yūri’s ear. “I forget: why can’t I move to Detroit to be closer to you?”

Yūri gave him a teary chuckle, lips trembling. “I…can’t remember right now. I’m sure we have good reason, though.”

“I suggest a re-vote.” Viktor wiggled his nose, before turning towards Minako and Celestino, who were staring at them in disbelief. “Your arguing isn’t helping the pre-skate nerves. If you’ll excuse us, we’re going to go listen to music in a hallway or something until it’s his turn. You two can work it out yourselves.”

With that, he gently took a hold of Yūri’s shoulders, and the younger didn’t resist as Viktor guided him away from all the people.

~

Half an hour later, and Yūri’s turn to skate was only a few minutes away.

The pair had done exactly what Viktor had said they were going to do, finding a hallway away from the chaos and plopping down on the ground, Yūri cradled in Viktor’s arms as they shared a pair of earbuds and listened to the playlist of songs to quiet Yūri’s anxiety that Viktor had compiled, Viktor’s thumb rubbing circles into his right hand, paying special attention to Yūri’s as of yet unadorned ring finger.

If he thought Yūri would accept it right now, he would pull out the rings he’d picked up from Maria Dolores in Barcelona as soon as he had after realizing Yūri remembered him too, but he got the feeling Yūri would want to wait a bit longer to have their commitment to each other so public…

His eyes brightened as an idea struck him.

Since Viktor’s face was pressed against Yūri’s head, Yūri was able to feel it when Viktor smiled widely, and turned to look at the man curiously.

“Time to go, Yūri.” Viktor urged instead of answering the other’s questioning gaze, reluctantly letting Yūri up. “Better?”

“Much, thank you.” Yūri smiled slightly. “You’d think I’d be used to it by now, but…”

“It’s one of the biggest competitions of the season, and those two acting like children wasn’t helping.” Viktor said bluntly.

Yūri winced at the harsh criticism, but before he could formulate what would have been an admittedly feeble protest, they stepped out into the arena.

Viktor reluctantly separated from Yūri, looking on warily as Minako and Celestino slowly approached Yūri, looking apologetic. At least they’d come to realize they’d done more harm than good for Yūri.

“I’m sorry, Yūri.” Minako murmured as she bowed in apology, seeing how relaxed her charge appeared and knowing it was because of Viktor’s interference. “We both got so caught up in trying to one up each other we forgot…”

“That this isn’t about us.” Celestino finished dryly, also bowing in apology, though just his head instead of the full-body bow Minako had given. Cultural differences, and all that.

Well, it was a start, at least. Now to see if they would manage to screw it up further…

Considering his not-so-charitable thoughts (he liked Minako, but Yūri was by far more important to him), he was surprised when the pair cleared their throats awkwardly, and Minako plucked the coach badge from around her neck and stepped forward, placing it around…Viktor’s neck instead.

Yūri and Viktor both looked at them in shock.

“Um…what?” Viktor asked.

“It’s pretty clear who has Yūri’s best interests at heart the most, here, and apparently, it’s not us.” Minako winced, feeling like a shitty mentor and godmother. “I already warned security that I would be giving this to you, so there shouldn’t be any issues with them.”

“Minako-sensei…” Yūri began.

“I…I would be honored.” Viktor didn’t bow towards her in thanks, because he was still annoyed with her right now, but his words were genuine.

With that, he turned towards Yūri with a grin. “Ready to kick some ass?”

Yūri snorted, rolling his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3
> 
> Not exactly realistic for Viktor to so easily be able to take Minako's place here, but oh well.


	35. Reactions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wasn't sure how to go about this one. Hope you guys aren't too disappointed!
> 
> Enjoy! <3

**[except from ON ICE!!! magazine]**

_‘…and after an absolutely breath-taking routine by Katsuki Yūri, he was met by fellow skater Nikiforov Viktor at the Kiss and Cry, where he was quickly taken into a hug by the older teenager, whose reactions to Katsuki’s skate would apparently have been very interesting to see, according to the few who were able to tear their eyes away from Katsuki and were looking his way._

_When asked why she wasn’t with her student rinkside, Okukawa Minako, who has been acting as Katsuki’s stand-in coach for this season, had this to say:_

_“Cialdini-san and I were arguing over which one of us should be with him rinkside, and it was adding more stress for Yūri-kun.” The woman flinched, guilt evident in her expression. “Viktor-san appeared and guided Yūri away so he could relax and…well, to get him away from us, because we were being far from helpful...”_

_“It didn’t take long for us to realize that we had messed up.” Cialdini admitted, head bowed in regret. “Okukawa-san went to check on the boys, and she saw how calm Yūri was, because of Nikiforov creating a more relaxed environment…after that, it wasn’t hard to decide that we weren’t the ones who deserved to be by Yūri’s side after his program.”_

_For those wondering about Cialdini-san’s presence, it was announced after the short program that he will be coaching Katsuki-san in the United States for the foreseeable future (as they are both based in Detroit), and though not officially his coach yet, he had decided to come to the Junior World Championships in a show of support for his soon-to-be student._

_Hopefully Cialdini will have learned his lesson and there will not be any similar pre-skate arguments to distract Katsuki-san in the future, as Nikiforov-san won’t always be able to be there._

_Speaking of the Russian skater, as he was obviously not competing in the event, he was not an official participant at the press conference, but when asked later on about what he thought of Katsuki’s performance, had no problem answering:_

_“Yūri is without a doubt the most talented person I have ever met.” Admittedly, I was blown away by the man’s firm tone of voice and serious look in his eyes. “I can’t wait until next year when I have the chance to skate against him. If I’m being honest I have a higher chance of getting gold right now, but that’s only because he’s being smart about waiting out his growth spurts before straining his body with quads. If he adds even one to his jump roster, much less more than that, as I’m certain he’ll quickly be able to do…I’m not going to stand a chance.”_

_There was a pause for a moment before he continued, eyes lighting up like stars as a beaming smile overtook his face. “It’s going to be great!”_

_It may interest you, readers, to know that our conversation took place entirely in Japanese, and when asked about his knowledge of the language, the skater credited Katsuki-san, who he mentioned is very skilled with languages (quite a compliment, as Nikiforov-san himself was fluent in three before apparently adding Japanese to his skill-set, and now I find myself curious about Katsuki-san’s own language repertoire), with his proficiency._

_It is good to know those of us in Japan are not the only ones who can practically_ feel _the overwhelming potential Katsuki-san has, but it still amazes me that the fifteen-year-old has the time to gain skills aside from figure skating. I do hope he gets enough sleep…there are only so many hours in a day!_

_Either way, it is very evident that next season will be one to remember, and I for one cannot wait for it._

_The ISU’s senior World Championships are next month, and while I fully expect our own representative to come out on top, I certainly wouldn’t mind if Nikiforov-san ended up with silver._

_Until next time,_

_Hisashi Morooka’_

_~_

YouTube:

[Katsuki Yūri’s gold-winning FS performance at 2007 Junior Worlds]

**Skates5ever:**      What is Viktor thinking?! Katsuki has no chance in hell of reaching Viktor’s level. He must have just been saying it to be nice…

 **RandomDude:**    Aren’t you the guy who Nikiforov gave the smackdown for insulting Katsuki on Twitter? Obviously he doesn’t agree, and believe it or not, his opinion is the important one, here…

 **LazySusan9:**         Ah, you just barely beat me to it. Seriously, skates5ever, give it a rest. Katsuki-san is more talented in one of his pinkies than you’ll ever be. He set those WORLD RECORDS legitimately—there have already been plenty of people who thought he was over-scored (who, bitter like you, didn’t appreciate that Viktor no longer holds the record even though the man himself is openly ecstatic about it), but trust me, those have been firmly shut down by not just fans, but actual experts in the sport…

 **Skates5ever:**       I know how it works, dipshit. That triple axel was only worth 8.5 points, but they gave him 11.5 for it! Also, I’m a girl.

 **RandomDude:** Like it matters what your gender is, you self-important…never mind. That’s because 8.5 is only the base value for that particular jump. They gave him more because his 3A was flawless and they determined his GOE (grade of execution) score for it was +3. That’s how it _works._ Do some research before opening your mouth.

 **LazySusan9:** Thank you for that, RandomDude. You were a lot nicer about that than I was going to be. Honestly, acting like she knows what she’s talking about when she doesn’t even know about the GOE aspect of scoring…

 **RandomDude:** Glad to do it, she was annoying me too.

 **Skates5ever:**       I’m still here, you know.

 **LazySusan9:**       Don’t see why, if all you’re going to do is bash Katsuki-san. Why do trolls click on videos when they don’t like the content or person the title says it’s about?

 **RandomDude:**    Because they have no life, obviously.

~

 **Georgi Popovich** @eternallysecondbest

@v-nikiforov Thanks to your little stunt, Yakov’s insisting he’s going bald. Thought you should know.

 **Viktor Nikiforov** @v-nikiforov

@eternallysecondbest 1) Depressing username. 2) What stunt?

 **Georgi Popovich** @eternallysecondbest

@v-nikiforov Not important right now. Coaching the Japanese kid, obviously.

 **Viktor Nikiforov** @v-nikiforov

@eternallysecondbest 1) His name is Yūri. 2) That wasn’t planned. Minako-san surprised us.

 **Georgi Popovich** @eternallysecondbest

@v-nikiforov Yeah, he saw that interview. Still, you looked a little too happy and comfortable, apparently.

 **Viktor Nikiforov** @v-nikiforov

@eternallysecondbest I was with Yūri, of course I was…

~

“Wow, he’s really serious about this guy, isn’t he?” Georgi asked, eyebrows raised.

“Scarily so, it would seem.” Yakov grimaced. He was annoyed about the social media, but Georgi was only using it during his break, unlike Vitya, so he didn’t try and stop him. “It makes me wonder what he’s going to do once the boy comes of age.”

Georgi hummed thoughtfully. “Marry him, if his constant ramblings are anything to go by.”

Yakov’s mind immediately went to the conversation he’d had with his star skater back when that article had suggested a relationship between him and Yūri, and aside from the age issue he hadn’t been bothered by the implications, and had in fact referred to Katsuki as his future husband…

“Shit.” Yakov muttered, running a weary hand down his face.

How was he going to get the brat to stay put in Russia at that point, instead of rushing off to wherever Katsuki was?

If only he knew that Yūri and Viktor were intending for Yūri to move to Russia, his head of hair would have benefited from it, but as it was, his thoughts contributed to the graying…

~

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3


	36. Spring Break

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *evil smirk*
> 
> Enjoy! <3

Yūri groaned slightly as he sat up, muscles aching from the too-long flight from America to Japan.

School had just let out for Spring break, and luckily Mari’s college had aligned their own with the other schools in the area, so the siblings took the opportunity to spend their ten-day vacation back home.

“Come on, Yūri.” Mari chuckled as they stood up, making sure their area was clean before moving to get off the plane. “Just think: katsudon.”

“Cruel.” Yūri sighed, though he couldn’t resist the smile at the mention of the dish that caused both endless joy (in its consumption) and endless teasing from Viktor.

Yurio, too, but he didn’t want to think about the people they had lost. At least their younger counterparts were alive and well…

Never being one to handle planes well, Yūri’s eyes started drooping at they walked, and he mostly relied on Mari to make sure that he didn’t knock into somebody.

He didn’t notice the whispers of recognition from some of the people they passed, but thankfully Yūri’s exhaustion was so obvious that they decided to leave him be, which he would have appreciated had he known he’d been recognized.

Tired as he was, he also didn’t notice that there was a third person in the backseat of the car they had arranged to get them to the train station for the last leg of their journey to Hasetsu.

It wasn’t until he heard a quiet chuckle and felt someone draw him in so he could lean against them that he realized something was strange.

Mari had gotten in after him, and was sitting in the wrong place.

He froze, eyes opening slowly as he chanced a peek up at the person he was leaning against, only to find his husband smiling down at him fondly.

“Tired, my dear?” Viktor murmured quietly.

Ignoring his sister’s attempts to stifle her cackles at how long Yūri had remained oblivious (he _really_ didn’t handle long flights well), Yūri readjusted his body so he was better facing Viktor, took a hold of the man’s face, and leaned up to kiss him.

Viktor smiled into the kiss, bringing up a hand to run his fingers through Yūri’s hair, which he was letting grow out a bit. He gave it a gentle tug where Mari couldn’t see from her perspective (not that she hadn’t glanced away already), and sighed contently as Yūri bit his lip playfully in retaliation.

Mari shifted awkwardly as the kiss continued for far longer than expected, not because they were being obscene, but because that was her ‘little’ brother, damn it. “You realize you’re not alone, right?”

Yūri, rather unexpectedly, scoffed at her words and only separated from Viktor’s lips slightly. “Mari, we were married for _twenty years_. Be glad this is all we’re doing.”

Viktor laughed into his love’s shoulder as his sister-in-law’s (he didn’t care about the legal technicalities) face scrunched up at the thought.

“Ah, and you used to be so shy, too.” Viktor laughed.

Yūri sighed. “Well, I’ve been teased enough over the years, at some point you just have to try and make other people blush instead.”

“But your blush is so enchanting, moya lyubov.” Viktor’s thumb traced his husband’s jaw, watching in delight as his words brought about a bit of red. “There it is…so beautiful.”

He gently kissed the cheek closest to him, and before he could move away, Yūri turned his head so that their lips met again.

Mari’s head dropped into her hands in despair as she heard the sounds they were making next to her—again, nothing she could justify trying to stop them for, considering they weren’t doing anything wrong and her only issue was that her sibling was one of them, but…

Hopefully they would get it out of their systems before having to spend the rest of their vacation around their parents and friends, just so none of them would have to witness just _how_ close the boys were, but Mari wasn’t counting on it.

Oh god, now she could hear wet sounds as the kiss deepened.

 _Ew_!

“Sorry you have to hear this, boy.” She murmured sympathetically to Vicchan, who was currently confined to a dog carrier on the floor, as she pulled her MP3 player out of her pocket and put in her earbuds to try and block out the noises from next to her.

At least Viktor had had the foresight to ask for a car with a privacy barrier…

~

“Makka!” Yūri gasped delightedly as the heart-wrenchingly familiar poodle bounded up to him, knocking him to the floor and covering him in slobber, just as he had when the dog first saw Yūri.

Viktor beamed down at the pair in pleasure that his dog displayed his good taste at greeting Yūri first, since obviously he was more important than anyone else. Viktor could get pouty when Makkachin cuddled with Yūri instead of him, but honestly, he’d always been thrilled that the two got along so well.

Speaking of getting along, once Yūri had satisfied Makkachin’s need for physical affection and he let Yūri up, the big dog noticed Vicchan, who was bouncing and yipping excitedly.

Makka cocked his head at the smaller dog curiously, but after a moment went to greet him, and within moments the two were chasing each other playfully.

“I knew they would get along…” Yūri breathed out, sounding almost breathless as he tried to keep back the tears at the sight he’d never been able to witness the first time around.

“Didn’t doubt it for a moment.” Viktor grinned, and was about to reach for his hand when Mama Hiroko made her appearance, having been delayed by a customer on her way to greet them.

“Yūri-kun!” she beamed, pulling her son (he was closer) in for a warm hug and delighting in the way her son hugged her back far less awkwardly than usual.

When she let go, she went to do the same to her daughter. “Mari-chan!”

“Hi, mom.” The siblings greeted in unison, before Mari continued. “I assume Viktor stopped by before coming to pick us up, since his dog is here?”

“Yes, indeed.” Hiroko smiled at the Russian boy warmly, eyes softening at the pleased flush she could see on the tips of his ears.

She was more than willing to welcome him into their home, after everything she’d been told about him by Yūri, Mari, and even Minako, who had been more approving after seeing the boys cuddle during Yūri-kun’s last competition, since Viktor had kept to his word and not tried anything inappropriate even though it would have been a good opportunity. Their interactions on that ‘Twitter’ thing little Yūko-chan had been showing her also helped her trust the boy.

Of course, she wasn’t as oblivious as she let her children think she was, and did notice the boys’ lips were darker and more plump than they would have been naturally (well, she wasn’t sure about Viktor-san, but her son’s definitely were), but it’s not like kissing was against the law.

Heaven knows she and Toshiya had gotten up to far worse, back in their day.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3


	37. Mama Hiroko's Stamp of Approval™

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my lovely readers!
> 
> Sorry I didn't get this out as fast as I usually try and do. No excuses or legitimate reasons, I've just been feeling a bit lazy. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Enjoy! <3

Viktor actually felt like he was about to drool, and tried to subtly reach up to wipe his face, just in case.

Not sudden enough, he thought ruefully, as his beloved smirked at him.

“Itadakimasu!” they said the prayer in perfect sync before digging into their bowls of katsudon.

Neither noticed that Viktor was getting a few surprised looks from their parents (or parent-in-laws to be), as well as some of the onsen guests, since he sounded like he’d been saying it his entire life.

“Vkusno!” Viktor couldn’t help but sigh in delight, closing his eyes blissfully at the familiar taste.

Since he and Yūri had settled in Hasetsu after they stopped competing (he didn’t quite consider it as them retiring, since they were still in the business, just in different roles), they’d had it as much as they could justify, but it had still been over a year since he’d had the real deal.

Sure, Viktor had made it while Yūri and Mari were at Skate America to cheer him on, but as he’d said at the time, there was something he was missing.

As cliché and sappy as it may be, mothers (or at least Mama Hiroko and the Yūko from the future) had a magic touch when it came to this kind of thing.

He wouldn’t say it was because they made it with love, because Viktor certainly did that, too, but…well, it was a mystery he’d yet to solve.

Needless to say, once he’d used his chopsticks to more or less shovel down his food as fast as he could while still savoring it, he and Yūri both showered Hiroko with compliments.

She blushed with a large, warm smile at the pair. It was always a pleasure to see people enjoy her cooking so much, especially Yūri, since she hadn’t had the opportunity to see that since the New Year, and Viktor’s obviously genuine appreciation was very flattering.

~

Viktor sighed forlornly as he lounged in the guest room he’d been given. Not the banquet room he’d stayed in all those years ago when he first started coaching Yūri, but one closer to Hiroko and Toshiya’s room.

No one said it, but his room assignment was clearly so far away from Yūri’s for a reason.

It was agonizing, being so close and yet not being able to cuddle or kiss whenever they wanted, but he happily thanked them for the room.

Then it came time to wash up, and Viktor realized that, in the interest of making as good an impression as possible, he couldn’t be in the hot springs when Yūri was there. Not when they would both be naked, and he had been more than clear to anyone who asked that he was in love with Yūri, though pretty much everyone underestimated their feelings and commitment.

So Yūri was in the onsen right now, having insisted Viktor bathe first. Viktor had tried to argue, but Toshiya had heard them and, as they had been speaking Japanese, understood their conversation and insisted that since Viktor was the guest here, him going first was just good hospitality.

Viktor pouted, remembering Yūri’s triumphant smirk.

 

Knowing a lost cause when he saw one (okay, not really, but this time he did), he had given up, and just washed up as quickly as possible so Yūri could get in to soak his sore muscles more quickly.

When Yūri wandered into Viktor’s temporary abode, hair still damp and dressed in sweats and a t-shirt, ready to cuddle with Viktor, he’d been welcomed with open arms.

A few hours later, Hiroko came to check on them, appreciating that they had made sure that the bedroom door stayed open (it was nice to know they were being responsible and following the unspoken rules), and nearly cooed at seeing her boys snuggled up together in a heap on top of the blankets, Yūri’s tummy cushioning Viktor’s head as they slept peacefully.

As if that wasn’t cute enough by itself, Vicchan and Makkachin were also sprawled on top of the two boys, and Hiroko snuck away to get her camera, wanting to capture this image so she could show it to people on their wedding day.

It took her a few minutes to realize what she’d just thought. Wedding day? She’d also unconsciously accepted Viktor as one of ‘her boys’, too.

It was more than a little jarring, but Yūri was happier than he’d ever been, even when he first started ice skating, and even Viktor looked worlds away from the posters her son used to have up. She’d always thought his eyes looked a bit sad, but there was no trace of that when he looked at her son.

At the thought, Hiroko smiled to herself.

She herself already loved Viktor, Toshiya liked him, Mari seemed to treat him as another brother, and even Minako seemed to approve, if reluctantly.

Now Viktor just had to join the family for real, but that would have to wait a few years.

~

Yūri should have expected it, really.

After all, Yūko had been the one to introduce him to Viktor back when they were younger, and she had been just as enthusiastic a fan as he was, though admittedly she’d grown out of it far more quickly than he had.

So when the two boys went to Ice Castle to skate (sure, it was the off-season, but neither of them were the type to stay away from the ice for long) and Yūko caught sight of them from where she was currently behind the counter for her shift, she screamed.

Then looked more than a little embarrassed at her reaction, considering Viktor and Yūri’s startled faces. Even Nishigori, who was visiting Yūko because it was usually slow at this time, looked at her askance, even though he’d also been surprised to see the Russian.

“Viktor Nikiforov…’ Yūko gaped.

Viktor beamed at her, bowing at both of the Nishigori’s (well, they hadn’t gotten married yet, but they would. Now he wondered what Yūko’s maiden name was…)

“Viktor and I were hoping we could book the rink for a while.” Yūri rolled his eyes fondly as Viktor obliged Yūko’s request for an autograph.

“Of course!” Yūko beamed. “You know you’re always welcome, Yūri-kun. Also, sign this for me?”

She handed him the same slip of paper she’d just had Viktor sign.

He blinked down at it. “Um…why?”

The other three sighed at him, rolling their eyes in unison before looking at each other wryly.

Suddenly, Yūko and Takeshi felt significantly more comfortable around the Russian celebrity, and though they knew Yūri could take care of himself, they were also more confident that whatever their relationship was right now or would be in the future, Viktor genuinely liked Yūri.

“Well, I already have an autograph from one world-record holder, why not make it two?” Yūko winked. “I’ll frame it and ask mom and dad if we can put it on display. We’ve had more business since you’ve been mentioning this is where you learned to skate, so why not capitalize on that a bit more?”

Yūri flushed darkly, shuffling awkwardly at the idea that his oldest friend was asking for his _autograph,_ of all things, but…she was his friend, and he was more than willing to help Yūko’s family in any way he could, so if he _was_ somehow good for business…

Yūri silently took the paper and signed his name with a flourish, right next to Viktor’s, before handing it back to her quickly, ducking his head in slight embarrassment.

“I keep almost writing down the wrong surname.” Viktor murmured in his ear, too quietly for the other two to hear them. “It’s so frustrating…”

Yūri chuckled, having had the same difficulties, and with a glance at his friends to make sure they weren’t paying attention to them as they looked around for a place to hang the autographs, leaned up to peck his husband lightly on the lips. “All in due time, Vitya. Just be patient.”

“I’ll wait as long as I have to.” Viktor sighed with a happy smile, looking into Yūri’s eyes with enough love to break any fairytale curse.

When Yūko and Takeshi came back to the main rink, it was to see the two professional skaters already on the ice, hand in hand, lost together in their own world.

“Somehow that ice dance we were joking about seems a lot more likely to happen.” Takeshi smiled fondly.

Yūko just smiled proudly, eyes slightly wet as she saw her best friend skate happily with the man she was suddenly sure he was going to marry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3


	38. Unexpected Circumstances

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! 
> 
> I've started a YOI one-shot collection, so if you're interested, go check it out! Updates probably won't be as quick as for this one, though.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy! <3

Viktor cheerfully pulled his cell phone away from his ear as Yakov screamed at him, humming quietly to himself as he did some compulsory figures. They might no longer be a requirement, but that didn’t mean there was no benefit to them.

He rolled his eyes at his coach’s accusation of him being lazy, and how his ‘shaky’ position as Russia’s number one skater in the men’s division was going to be yanked out from under him because he wasn’t training as intensely as some of his competitors.

“Yakov, I am literally _on_ the ice right now.” He said dryly, and Yakov paused, hearing the sounds his student’s blades were making on the ice as Viktor flowed into a level 3 step sequence just to shake things up a bit. “Yūri and I have been coming here every single day, and since school is still in session here—they start the school year in April, you see, we more or less have the rink to ourselves until early evening, once most of the school clubs have ended for the day...and even then, most people study instead of skate.”

Yakov grumbled irritably, but Viktor knew that the information had calmed him down, if only just.

“You’d better not shown Katsuki your program.” He said, and Viktor could practically hear the scowl.

“Of course not!” Viktor gasped dramatically, like the very idea offended him. “It’s harder to surprise each other that way!”

Not that Yūri had ever had any difficulty surprising Viktor even when the Russian had been the one putting together his programs.

From changing how _On Love: Eros_ was performed, to changing jumps and spins, improvising level four step sequence in minutes, to landing a _quadruple Axel_ (it had been kept secret from Viktor, but Yūri had known better than to attempt it alone, so Yakov had kept an eye on him), the first person in history to have done so…

And those were just some of the surprises he’d given Viktor in regards to his _skating_ , much less everything else, such as the proposal that Yūri had managed to make extremely romantic (the setting couldn’t have been better, which he’d taken full advantage of) even though it hadn’t exactly been planned.

In all honesty, Viktor would have accepted Yūri’s proposal with exhilaration even if they’d been in a locker room and he’d used a plastic ring from a toy machine, but Yūri…

Well, Yūri had made him breathless, as always.

Viktor felt a very strong urge to quit waiting for ‘the right moment’ to bring up the fact that he’d already picked up their rings. He’d already bought them chains so they could hide them under their shirts when around other people.

“Viktor. VIKTOR!” Yakov shouted, bringing him out of his musings. “Are you listening to me?!”

“Not in the slightest.” Viktor admitted with a smile. “You were saying?”

“Ugh, forget it. You’re a lost cause.” Yakov scoffed. “Just…don’t do anything stupid.”

With that, the older man hung up.

Viktor blinked down at his cell phone in bemusement.

Didn’t Yakov know by now that their opinions of what qualify as ‘stupid’ are very different?

Oh well, he thought to himself with a dismissive shrug. The man would learn eventually.

~

A week later, Yakov called again, and unlike the first time where he’d just wanted to yell at his student, this time it was with some unfortunate news.

“Nikolai came down with pneumonia, and is on bed rest until he gets better.” Viktor explained to Yūri and Mari worriedly. “He’ll be fine—I remember Yura mentioning it, but it’s hard enough taking care of a seven-year-old, and at his age, bed-ridden…”

“What can we do?” Yūri’s eyes were wide with concern for the two Plisetsky males who he had obviously become very close to in the first timeline, though he calmed slightly at Viktor’s assurance that this was something that had happened to Nikolai the first time around, too.

Viktor took a deep breath. “Yakov and Lilia’s relationship isn’t really in a good state right now, even though I think Yakov’s actually trying harder than the first time around to fix it, and that kind of environment isn’t one Nikolai wants to subject Yura too. So, he asked if there was any possible way…”

“Yura could stay with you.” Yūri finished with an understanding nod. “He knows you’re here, right?”

Viktor nodded. “Yes. He said if were to agree, Georgi would fly to Tokyo with Yura, and we could pick him up. When I asked Georgi about it, he said he didn’t mind, and is actually curious about the hot springs...”

The other man was actually more curious about Yūri, but he hadn’t wanted Viktor to take that the wrong way, not knowing that Viktor was _more_ than aware that Georgi was very much straight, considering all of the relationship issues he’d had over the years.

Yūri and Mari glanced at each other and nodded.

“We’ll ask mom and dad, but I very much doubt there will be an issue on their end.” Mari said, standing up. “When—or if, they say yes I’ll book a couple of rooms for them indefinitely for the time being. Viktor, ask…Georgi was his name, you said? Ask him how long he’d like to stay, when you can.”

“Yura’s in school until the end of the week, so we don’t need the rooms quite yet.” Viktor informed her with a grateful nod, and she nodded in return before leaving to find their parents.

Yūri came up behind his husband, wrapping his arms around the taller man’s shoulders and gathering him into a hug, Viktor leaning back into him with a relieved sigh, muscles slowly relaxing.

“He’ll be fine, Vitenka.” Yūri dropped a kiss onto his husband’s gray (platinum!) hair. “They both will. It’ll be nice to see Yura and Georgi again, though I wish it was under better circumstances.”

Viktor hummed in agreement, removing one of Yūri’s hands from around his chest and lifting it up to press a kiss to his palm. “I know. It shouldn’t be hard to distract Yura. either—god knows we’ve got plenty of experience with that.”

Yūri chuckled in agreement. “Fujioka-san’s tabby just gave birth to some kittens. We can ask her if we can bring Yura around to her house for a bit. There are few things more helpful than being able to cuddle with an adorable animal.”

Viktor snorted, grumbling a protest at Yura’s preference for cats over dogs, or more specifically, _poodles_. Though the boy did seem to get along better with Makkachin than he had when he’d first met the dog in the other timeline, so hopefully he wouldn’t be a brat around Makka and Vicchan.

“You know, he’s already become a fan of yours.” He murmured with a smile. “Maybe your biggest, aside from me, of course.”

“Don’t let Minami-kun hear you say that.” Yūri quipped automatically with a tiny smirk, before pausing and furrowing his eyebrows. “Wait, what?”

Viktor didn’t say anything, instead choosing to giggle slightly.

“Viktor!” Yūri groaned. “What did you do?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3
> 
> Yes, Yuri's visit will be more complicated than in canon because he doesn't know English yet. Thank goodness Viktor and Yuuri will be able to translate for him!
> 
> Also, don’t worry, I promised very little angst in this story and I don’t intend to go back on that.  
> Yuri’s grandfather will be just fine once the pneumonia passes, and though Yuri will be grumpier than usual for a while because he’s worried, he’ll be distracted by Yūri and the new environment enough that it won’t be as bad as it probably would have been otherwise and he’ll be able to enjoy himself. :D


	39. Yura's Surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! <3

Georgi winced in slight pain as his much younger rink mate grabbed his arm tightly as the two of them walked through the large crowd of people milling around the airport.

He didn’t bring attention to it, knowing that the seven-year-old would see it as a ‘weakness’, but he did make sure to act as a barrier when people got a little too close. After all, he didn’t want to kid to end up being trampled.

“Where is he?” Yura grumbled with a tiny, admittedly adorable scowl as he got on his tippy-toes, fruitlessly trying to see over the crowd to catch a glimpse of Viktor. “Why do I have to be here again?”

“Your grandfather’s recovery will go faster if he can focus on himself.” Georgi said slowly, not wanting Yuri to feel like a burden, since that really wasn’t the case. “You’re really independent for your age, which is impressive, but some things you can’t do yourself.”

The kid frowned, but admitted, if only to himself, that his travel companion’s (he refused to think of him as a babysitter, because he was _not_ a baby!) words made sense.

It still rankled, though.

He couldn’t wait until he was old enough to be able to take care of his grandfather when he needed it, for a change…

“Ah, there they are…” Georgi murmured suddenly, and Yura glanced up in confusion (they?) as the teen guided him towards the waiting area.

The blonde’s eyes widened in shock as he caught sight of the person who had come with Viktor to pick him up, and it was only the fact that he was still holding onto Georgi’s arm that kept him from stumbling too noticeably.

“Yura, Georgi!” Viktor waved, grinning as he caught sight of them. “Glad to see you made it safely. Yūri and I already grabbed your things, so we can head out…I was thinking we’d stop for lunch before heading to the train station?”

“That sounds good.” Georgi sighed in relief. “Airplane food is…not the best.”

Viktor and Yūri grimaced, empathetic to his plight.

“Hello, Yuri.” The Japanese skater greeted the young boy with a smile in fluent Russian, kneeling so that he was closer in height. Of course, Georgi didn’t know it, but it was because Yūri was fully aware that Yuri wouldn’t like the obvious difference in height, if he was anything like his older counterpart. “It’s nice to finally meet you! My name is Yūri, too.”

Yuri stared at his idol for a long moment, inwardly pleased that the older boy spoke his language and he wouldn’t have to rely on Viktor and Georgi to speak for him.

“There’s only room for one Yuri.” He huffed indignantly after a moment, crossing his tiny arms across his chest. “You’re good, but I’m going to be better.”

Georgi’s eyes widened at the insult and outright _challenge_ , wondering if Yuri was nuts to say something like that to the guy who would be housing him (well, them) for the time being. He was about to interject—maybe scold the kid, when Katsuki unexpectedly beamed.

“I’m sure you will be! I can’t wait.” he agreed happily, an honest smile on his face before his eyes took on a teasing glint. “Until then, however, I’m afraid I have seniority. It would get confusing for people if we called you by your first name, so how about a nickname for now?”

Yuri grimaced, before grumbling quietly. “Fine. I guess I’ll have to win my name back.”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant!” Yūri’s eyes widened in surprise as he waved his eyes around. “It’s just as much your name as it is mine. Technically it’s a bit different, too. Your name has the ‘u’ as a short sound, but the way mine is written, the sound is longer, like ‘uu’. We’re only giving you a nickname because they sound alike and, well, we’re staying with my family, so it would be really weird for them to call me anything else. If you want, you can give me a nickname too.”

Yuri’s eyes widened, expression showing mixed emotions. Satisfaction that the Japanese man wasn’t trying to steal his name, irritation that he hadn’t noticed the slight difference in their names by now, and pleasure at being able to give his idol a nickname.

“We can decide what to call each other later.” Yūri cut off the younger’s train of thought. “For now, let’s follow Viktor’s suggestion and get lunch. I’m sure you two are starving…”

In response, Yuri’s stomach growled loudly, causing him to flush when the other three glanced at him in slight amusement.

“Are we going, or what?” he huffed.

Yūri grinned. “Of course. I know just the place, too.”

~

Not twenty minutes later, and they had arrived.

Georgi looked on in shock as he took in the sight of the place Katsuki had taken them to.

“Oh my god!” Yura squealed (though he would later deny it), Viktor barely managing to restrain him before he leapt away from them.

Cats.

Cats everywhere.

“There are some cafés in Japan that have animals like this.” Katsuki said, rather unnecessarily, Georgi thought. “This one, obviously, is a neko—er, cat, café. There’s an owl one a few streets down, but Viktor mentioned you really like cats, so we thought this would be more appealing.”

His vocabulary was a bit too advanced for Yuri’s current comprehension, but the blonde wasn’t paying the slightest bit of attention anyway, having knelt down to pet a calico currently purring and rubbing itself against his leg.

“I had no idea this was a thing.” Georgi muttered, eyes wide.

“Japan is awesome.” Yura whispered as he continued petting the cat, quietly enough that he probably thought the older males couldn’t hear him.

They did, though, and Viktor and Katsuki beamed down at the boy.

Georgi found himself wondering why Katsuki was so pleased by Yura’s happiness. Viktor at least had known the kid for over half a year, but the Japanese man had only just met him.

How strange.

Still, there was no better way to win Yura over. Not that Georgi thought it would be quite so easy, even if he was Katsuki’s fan, but this was a damn good start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3
> 
> Oh, the upcoming adventures I'm planning with Yura in Japan...


	40. Yuri's Indignation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy, everyone! <3

Yūri and Yura walked down one of the less busy streets in Tokyo, on their way to meet up with Viktor and Georgi and head to the train station, having been delayed from the original plan to leave after lunch when Viktor decided to drag his rinkmate to one of the higher-end stores to try and harass him into getting a kimono.

Yūri, however, had begged off, and suggested that he take Yuri to one of the other less expensive shopping districts when the blonde realized he hadn’t brought a swimsuit, which was a problem, since he wanted to swim at the beach while in Hasetsu.

Georgi hadn’t felt too comfortable with the idea of Yuri being left alone with Katsuki, considering he was a total stranger to both him and Yuri, but Viktor managed to reassure him that not only was Yūri entirely trustworthy, but Nikolai obviously trusted Yūri around Yura, considering he knew they would be staying at the Japanese skater’s home.

It was Yura’s glare, annoyed at the insinuation that he couldn’t take care of himself, that convinced him to let it go.

So they had managed to find him a pair of black swimming trunks, and Yūri agreed to get him a cat-covered beach towel when the younger boy was immediately drawn to it.

They had also stopped at a small café (not filled to the brim with cats this time, to Yuri’s disappointment), and were currently snacking on some dango, which the younger had immediately taken a liking to.

“Shouldn’t you be in school?” a female voice asked suddenly from a few feet behind them.

Yūri paused in surprise at the question, and since he’d been holding Yura’s hand to make sure they didn’t get separated in the crowd, the young boy was forced to stop as well, sending a _look_ at Yūri for the unexpected action.

“Excuse me?” Yūri asked, eyebrows furrowing.

“You should be in school right now.” The woman continued, now sounding more sure of herself as her eyes narrowed at them. “Maybe not him, since he doesn’t look like he lives here, but you, certainly.”

“Ah…” Yūri winced, lifting a hand to rub the back of his neck. “You see, I—“

She cut him off. “Truancy is very disrespectful, you know.”

Yūri felt a twinge of annoyance.

People in Japan were usually very polite, hardly likely to confront a complete stranger over something like this—it was usually up to classmates to get a truant student back to class, not adults—but apparently this woman was an exception.

“Ma’am, I go to school in America, where school ended a few weeks ago.” He said firmly, and then repeated himself in English. “I realize school is in session in Japan, but I’m on break.”

The woman frowned, noting that he _did_ make the western language sound very natural, though still with a bit of an accent.

She watched as the Japanese teenager turned towards the blonde foreigner, kneeling down to match his height and murmuring in yet another language, presumably explaining why they’d been stopped.

The boy scowled at the teenager, and then again at her, though his eyes were much harsher when they were locked on to her.

It was then that she realized how nosy she had been, and felt a flicker of shame settle into her stomach.

After a long moment, the blonde turned towards the teenager again with a huff, and seemed to ask something. She watched in confusion, ears picking up at one of the words he was saying, one that he seemed to be tripping over slightly as he said it.

Vikipediya.

The Japanese and other language’s word was slightly different from the English version of the word, but close enough that she thought she understood it.

Was he referring to _Wikipedia_ , of all things?

She noticed the teenager grimace slightly at whatever the kid was saying, scolding him softly for a moment and shaking his head and the irritated blonde.

“What is he saying?” she asked with a huff. “What language is that?”

“Russian.” The teenager narrowed his eyes at her, though she couldn’t imagine why, as she wasn’t doing anything wrong here.

She waited for a moment, but he didn’t answer her first question, so she repeated it.

“Irrelevant.” He tried to dismiss her. “I apologize for saying this, but to be frank it’s none of your business, either whether I’m truant or what he’s saying.”

She reeled back, offender, and huffed, whirling away from the infuriating pair.

The _nerve_ of kids these days!

~

Yūri sighed as the woman stormed away.

Honestly, the nerve of some people…

“Yura, mentioning the fact that I have a Wikipedia page isn’t something that would usually come up in conversation.” He mentioned to the blonde wryly. “I might be recognizable to figure skating fans, but not everyone follows skating.”

“Your page _says_ you train in America.” The young boy huffed. “You could have just showed her.”

Yūri found himself wondering why the younger even knew about that, but after a moment of thought, decided to blame Viktor.

At that, he reached out to ruffle the younger’s hair, something that the Yurio Yūri had known would never have allowed him to get away with without at least making a token attempt to kick him. As it was, Yura just scowled up at him at the action.

Probably because ruffling a seven-year-old’s hair was more acceptable to him than it was when he was older, but oh well.

“Sometimes it’s easier when people don’t know who you are…” he said slowly, trying to figure out how to put this. “Some people act different around us, and not always in a good way. For example, an old friend of mine’s fans used to follow him around _everywhere_ , and some of them were able to find him by his smell. It was really creepy, to the point he never wanted to interact with them if he could help it. Even his opinion of the more normal fans was tainted because of the more…intense ones.”

Yura’s posture straightened in pride when his idol said that people acted different around ‘us’, including Yuri himself in his statement, but slumped again as the older skater continued.

He wasn’t quite sure of what some of the things the older boy said meant (not that he wanted Yūri to lower his vocabulary around him, because he would have considered that being talked down to), but he got the gist.

The blonde had seen some of Viktor’s fans following him around, and had been a bit envious at the time, wanting to be a good enough skater to have fans of his own, but now that he thought about it…

Well, people constantly watching him and being able to find him by how he smelled was really creepy, like Yūri had said. No wonder the teen’s friend never wanted to talk with them.

He hoped that when he started skating competitively and gained fans of his own, they would be normal instead of human bloodhounds...

“She was still mean, though.” Yuri grumbled, not willing to let it go entirely, and Yūri chuckled.

“Not denying that.” He agreed warmly, before they started walking again, Yuri not noticing when the older one subtly slowed his pace to match Yuri’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3


	41. Arriving at the Onsen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!  
> Fair warning, my next couple of weeks are going to be really busy at work, and my schedule is temporarily being switched around, so I probably won't have the energy to update quite as frequently. That being said, here's an update before all of that craziness starts!
> 
> Enjoy! <3

Yuri’s eyebrows furrowed as he saw a few people around them wearing strange things on their faces.

“What are those?” he couldn’t stop himself from asking as Japanese Yūri himself pulled out one of the objects from his pocket, lifting it up to place on his face.

“Eh?” Yūri glanced down at the thin material. “Oh, this? It’s a face mask. Some people prefer to wear them when they’re in a crowded place, usually to prevent spreading germs and bacteria if they’re sick. Others wear them to help prevent allergies.”

“A lot of people are wearing them…” Yuri frowned.

“They are getting more popular lately.” The older teen agreed. “Courteousness is big in Japan.”

Yuri hummed in thought, and Yūri almost cooed at him.

“I want one.” The tiny blonde decided with a decisive nod. “Grandpa is sick, so I might have gotten sick, too!”

He didn’t say it, but he didn’t want to be sent to stay with someone else if he managed to get Viktor sick like his grandpa had had to do.

Japan had made a good impression on him so far. His idol’s presence had nothing to do with his desire to stay until grandpa got better…

Georgi went to explain that what his grandfather had wasn’t contagious in and of itself, and though some of the things that could cause it might be, Yuri would probably have shown signs of it already.

“Sure, if you want.” Yūri shrugged, unknowingly cutting off what Georgi had been about to say. “There’s a convenience store right across the street, and they probably carry some. We’ve got time before the train to Hasetsu leaves. I’ll go get one…”

“Two?” Viktor asked with a puppy-dog expression, and Yūri smiled slightly with a nod before turning to Georgi to question if he wanted one, as well.

“Ah…sure.” Georgi almost squirmed at the looks his rinkmates were giving him: Yuri’s annoyed one, and Viktor’s imploring. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” Yūri smiled before slipping out of the building.

The three Russians wandered to wait at the right platform, Yūri having distributed them amongst the three before heading out.

Viktor had pouted because Yūri hadn’t trusted him with the ticket meant for him, but Georgi honestly thought it had been a good call, since he knew from Yakov’s rants that Viktor was hopeless when it came to keeping track of that kind of thing.

Viktor tried insisting that he would make sure not to misplace it, but Katsuki just smiled innocently and gave Viktor’s ticket to Yuri (the kid’s eyes brightening at the show of trust) for safekeeping.

The whole thing was pretty damn hilarious, to be honest.

“Okay.” A slightly panting voice spoke up from behind them, and Georgi jumped slightly, turning to see that Katsuki was already back, bag in hand.

“That was fast.” He said blankly.

To be able to get back so quickly, the Japanese boy must have practically ran, but all he had to show for it was slightly accelerated breathing.

Of course, now that Georgi thought about it, the guy _had_ displayed an impressive amount of stamina during his programs for last season, so it probably shouldn’t have been a surprise.

Yūri shrugged. “The masks were up at the front, and there wasn’t a line.”

With that, he reached into the bag, pulling out three small boxes. He handed the two larger ones to Viktor and Georgi, and gave Yuri the smaller, child-sized one.

Georgi felt more than a little odd putting the thing on, but Viktor didn’t hesitate, and neither did Yuri, though he had a bit of difficulty fastening it around his ears, urging Viktor to hold his blonde hair out of the way to make it easier, ruffling it afterwards and earning himself a scowl.

Viktor gathered the three boxes, preparing to go throw them out, when the brand caught his attention.

“Unicharm, Yūri?” the silver-haired teen asked with a smile.

Yūri shrugged, ears turning slightly pink as the other two glanced between them in confusion.

“Choosing their product instead of someone else’s is the least I could do, Viktor.” Yūri answered, this time in Japanese so the other two couldn’t understand him, causing Yuri to pout. “Even after we finalized our endorsement deal they made a few donations to the animal shelter I’ve been helping at, even though they were in no way obligated to do so.”

Viktor glanced back down at the boxes with something soft in his eyes, ever the animal-lover. “That…is very kind of them.”

“It is.” Yūri agreed, before switching back to Russian as an announcement sounded. “Ah, looks like our train is boarding…”

A few minutes later, when the Japanese teen was occupied making sure Yuri was comfortable and that their luggage was secure, Georgi quietly asked Viktor what that had been about.

“Ah…” he gazed at the still distracted Yūri with a besotted, heart-shaped smile. “Just another example of my Yūri obliviously charming everyone he meets.”

~

Georgi stood awkwardly to the side for a moment as Viktor and Yūri greeted the Japanese boy’s family once they arrived at the inn, the former acting far too familiar for someone who’d known them for such a short time.

Katsuki’s older sister was even more comfortable around him, which was strange until Georgi recalled that she had been present when Viktor and Yūri hung out at Skate America the season before.

He wondered how he could have forgotten that near-scandal, where Mari’s presence as chaperone was the primary reason people stopped accusing Viktor of being a creep for being so familiar with the then fourteen-year-old Katsuki.

Not that rumors of the older skater being romantically interested in the younger had in any way stopped, no thanks to the man’s own actions on social media, but it had been made perfectly clear they were doing nothing illegal, supported by the fact that they were never seen alone together.

Not in public, at least.

He was brought out of his musings by Mrs. Katsuki asking him a question, which Yūri swiftly translated into Russian.

“She wants to know if you’re hungry yet.” Yūri explained with a fond smile as he looked at his mom.

“Ah, not yet, but thank you.” Georgi answered, manners kicking in automatically.

He wondered where the Katsuki siblings had gotten their height, since their parents were both on the shorter side. Not that Yūri had stopped growing yet, but even now he was already taller than both of them.

The older woman nodded cheerfully before cooing at Yura who, while he didn’t seem to appreciate the fawning very much, tried not to be rude to the kind woman who was obviously very much loved by his idol. Besides, she _had_ let him stay in her home, even though she didn’t know him, so it wouldn’t kill him to at least _try_ and be polite, if only to her and her husband.

Staying here with a language barrier wasn’t going to be fun, since Hiroko and Toshiya only spoke the bare minimum of English (little enough Georgi would be having trouble, too), but Yura only knew a few words in the western language anyway.

Thank god Yūri and Viktor were at least adept in all three languages, or else this would be even more of a logistical nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3
> 
> Unicharm (once again, not affiliated with them in any way) started releasing '3-D' face masks back in 2003. According to an article I’m looking at, face masks are more popular now than they were at this part in the story, which is mid-2007, but oh well. Yūri wore one in the series a few times, and I figure it’d be hard for him to break the habit.
> 
> Georgi stopped referring to Yūri by last name in part because he’s started to like him more, but also because it would get confusing since he’s staying with three other people with that name.


	42. Bonding and Good News

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! <3

Over the past week, Mari had watched as her brother and brother-in-law (for all intents and purposes) doted on the young blonde that she had promptly nicknamed ‘Yurio’ for his similar appearance to one of her favorite celebrities.

Not that their parents, Minako, Yūko, Nishigori, and herself weren’t all perfectly welcoming to their two surprised guests, but her brothers had focused on Yurio specifically, even though Georgi was much closer in age, just a day younger than Viktor.

The first few days they’d gone touring the country, taking the kid on day trips (with Minako as the older boys’ chaperone) that left the overwhelmed seven-year-old nearly catatonic from pure bliss by the time they got back.

First was the Ueno Zoo, the oldest in Japan, with over 460 animal species. The highlight of the trip had been the Sumatran tiger, which Yurio had used at least two rolls of film on. Viktor had taken them to be developed, and Yūri had already bought the kid a scrapbook to put them in, with the assurance that he’d have plenty of things to fill it up with.

Then there were a couple of trips to some of Japan’s nature parks. Nara Park, where visitors were able to feed the free-roaming deer, had apparently been interesting, but nothing compared to Yurio’s reaction to the Fuji Safari Park and Yokohama Nogeyama Park, where guests were driven around in buses and were able to feed the animals. By the time they’d taken both tours, Yurio had been able to get up close to not only tigers, but lions, cheetahs, and apparently a few of the other great cats.

Last, the boys had taken the (at this point wondering if he was in heaven) kid to one of Japan’s eleven cat islands, where the felines outnumbered the humans. They had apparently almost left the island before discovering that Yurio had hidden one of the kittens in the backpack he’d brought with him, though Viktor and Yūri had apparently been too amused to properly scold the young boy.

~

About a week into the Russian’s stay, just a couple of days before Georgi was set to go back, Mari found herself doing dishes with Yūri while Viktor read Yurio to sleep.

The kid had seen the sheet of paper she had put up in the dining area counting off the days until Deathly Hallows was released, and had never heard of Harry Potter, eventually leading to the boys switching off reading him the Russian translation of the Philosopher’s Stone.

Mari knew from personal experience that the kid was old enough to make his way through the first book himself, but thought it was really fucking adorable how he stubbornly insisted that Yūri and Viktor read it to him, instead.

She had quietly asked an amused Georgi if he felt left out by their new ritual, but the younger man just said with a snort that from what he’d heard, getting Yuri to go to sleep when he should was a nightmare, so he didn’t envy the other two.

That was fair, Mari decided after a moment, remembering witnessing a few times when Yurio thought he was alone with the other Russians, reverting back to being a shithead (he was adorable, but she called it as she saw it) until Yūko-chan or one of the Katsuki family appeared.

Viktor had been slightly depressed at the harsh treatment, considering he’d had a part taking him on those field trips with Yūri too, but Mari sometimes noticed a tiny smile grace the young blonde’s face when Viktor doted him.

The silver-haired skater didn’t notice that, but Yūri did, and winked at her when he realized that she had caught on to the fact that Yurio wasn’t as emotionally distant as he would have liked people to think he was.

“That kid…” Mari spoke slowly. “He’s not just a future rinkmate of yours, is he?”

Her brother shook his head.

“Yurio is the closest thing Viktor and I had to a child.” Yūri answered quietly, a certain weight in his eyes that showed his mental age, despite his still growing form. “We’d talked about having children eventually, but it never panned out.”

Mari was silent for a long moment, heart clenching at the words, which Yūri spoke so calmly.

He sighed, running a wet hand through his hair, which Mari only now consciously realized he was growing out. It was hard to tell when she saw him every day, but now that she noticed she wondered how she could possibly have missed that it was now long enough to pull up into a ponytail?

“We decided to offer to adopt him officially once I’m eighteen and Viktor and I marry.” Yūri confided in her, and Mari’s eyes widened in shock at the unexpected information. “Nikolai was always more at home in Moscow than in Saint Petersburg, but Yurio is hardly about to train anywhere else, so…well, we’re hoping they’ll at least consider it.”

He didn’t sound very confident, but from the look in his eyes, Mari figured they would find a way to make it happen.

“You and Viktor clearly think the world of the kid, and he’s basically part of the family now anyway.” She said after a moment, causing her brother to glance up at her. “The kid’s probably going to have nothing but good things to say about his visit, if the last week has been any indication. That will go a long way towards convincing the kid’s grandfather, at least.”

“I hope so.” Yūri said with a shaky sigh, before letting out a slight laugh. “The first time around, a lot of people started calling the three of us a family, actually.”

“Ah, yes.” Mari and Yūri jumped in surprise as a pair of arms wrapped around Yūri, and Mari turned to see Viktor pull her brother into a hug, resting his chin gently on the younger teen’s shoulder as his eyes closed contently at the contact. “The podium family, wasn’t it?”

He had only just come within earshot, so he hadn’t heard what they were talking about right before he’d entered, not that he would have minded. He did get the feeling that his Yūri could use a hug, though, and that was something he was more than willing to provide.

Yūri hummed in agreement and ducked his head slightly so his hair obscured his face somewhat, though Mari still caught sight of the fond smile he was trying to hide.

“Podium family?” Mari raised an eyebrow curiously, graciously deciding not to draw attention to the affectionate gestures as Yūri put the last dish in the dishwasher and turned it on, the three of them moving over to the lounge.

“Let’s just say people despaired when we were all in competition together.” Yūri said with a sly look in his eyes. “In a few years’ time people started saying that silver was as good as gold for any competition Viktor was in, and, well…”

“They extended that to Yūri and Yurio, too!” Viktor beamed proudly, pulling Yūri into his lap as he sat on the couch, her brother automatically shifting to make it more comfortable for both of them.

Mari would have assumed that her brother didn’t like ‘public’ displays of affection, but if the way they acted around her was any indication, Yūri didn’t really care.

Maybe it would be different when they could take their physical relationship further, but then, maybe not. Viktor _had_ mentioned Yūri had skated to a song about sexual love, so…yeah, she really didn’t want to think about this anymore.

“No one ever had a chance during the Grand Prix or at the World Championships.” Viktor said, eyes closing happily as Yūri stroked his hand (she wouldn’t realize the significance until much later, but it was his right hand). “Yurio and I dominated at the European Championships, and since we couldn’t compete at Four Continents, Yūri never had any real competition there. The 2018 Winter Olympics were interesting, though.”

“Viktor, don’t be like that.” Yūri rolled his eyes up at the man Mari strongly believed to be his soulmate. “The others hardly made it easy for me. Otabek, JJ, and Phichit, especially.”

“Oh yeah, I wonder how Phichit and Otabek are doing.” Viktor’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Not sure about Otabek, but Phichit’s starting to gear up for his debut in the junior division.” Yūri said with an honestly happy smile.

“Isn’t that the kid you’ve been talking to from Thailand?” Mari’s wondered, having heard the name more than a few times over the past year.

Yūri hummed in agreement. “Yes. He’s my best friend. Or he will be, at least.”

He looked slightly sad for a moment, and Viktor pecked him on the cheek, understanding how he was feeling. After all, he’d been dealing with his own best friend not remembering how close they’d been, too. But at least he’d had a couple of chances to see Chris in person.

Yūri smiled up at him in gratitude for the comfort. “On the upside…Celestino saw how much potential he has, since I showed him some videos of Phichit skating, so he’ll be with us in Detroit when school starts up again! Celestino agreed to act as his legal guardian while he trains in America.”

“Wait, what?” Viktor and Mari gaped at him.

Yūri smiled innocently. “I can be very convincing, sometimes.”

“Don’t I know it!” Viktor laughed, utterly thrilled at the news. He knew how deeply Yūri missed Phichit, who had never thought any less of him for his anxiety or (what Yūri considered) lack of social skills.

“Damn, kid.” Mari breathed out, mind trying to puzzle through the logistics of how the hell he had managed that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3
> 
> Those zoo, parks, and cat islands mentioned are real, but I only did vague research about them. Just more of Yuuri and Viktor using Yurio's greatest weakness to get past his defenses.


	43. Yakov's Lament

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> Not back to my normal work schedule until Friday, so I won't be up to doing the constant updates until then, but I thought I'd get this out for now.
> 
> Enjoy! <3

Georgi glanced to the side at his travel companions, who had come with him to Tokyo to see him back off to Russia, where he was intending to start planning his routines for the upcoming season.

Some might say it was a bit early, but when up against competition as intense as Viktor Nikiforov, and now Yūri Katsuki…well, from the trips to Yūri’s home rink, Ice Castle Hasetsu, it was obvious that both of them already had a fairly solid idea of what they were intending to skate, though both were smart enough not to reveal too much.

He had little hope that he would ever really catch up to their level, if he was being honest, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t willing to put in the effort.

After all, wasn’t the saying that he should aim for the moon, so even if he missed, he would land amongst the stars?

That had never made too much sense to him, since the Earth’s moon was far closer than any star, but he tried not to get in the habit of questioning quotes that were meant to be inspirational.

He was brought out of his musings by a small nudge from Mari, an indication that it was time to cross the street, which he hadn’t noticed because he hadn’t been paying attention.

“Arigato.” He said, ducking his head sheepishly.

His voice sounded strange to him. Japanese was a gentler, softer language than Russian, and even English, but he had to admit that it did hold a certain appeal…he could kind of see why Viktor had taken it up, though obviously Yūri was a huge part of the reason for it.

Then he found himself wondering idly how Yakov would react if not only Viktor, but Georgi and little Yuri, gained any measure of competency in the language. Probably give up on waiting for his hair to gray and fall out and instead start yanking it out.

Not that Georgi knew more than a few phrases, of course, but it was still a little amusing to think about. Maybe he should pick up the Japanese language learning software. What was it called…Rosetta Stone, or something like that? If nothing else, he was sure Viktor would be more than happy to have an opportunity to speak the language more, once the day-older skater had to come back to Russia.

“You’re just like Viktor, apparently.” Mari sighed, sounding slightly fond as she glanced over to where Viktor was cuddling with Yūri, neither paying the slightest bit of attention to the pair trailing behind them. “So lost in thought you stop paying attention to your surroundings. At least you don’t accidentally walk out into the street, though...”

“Viktor did what?!” Georgi’s head shot up as he looked at the slightly older woman in alarm.

“Ah…I’m not sure I should tell you this, actually.” Mari winced, rubbing the back of her neck. “Skate America wasn’t the first time they met in person. Viktor came to Tokyo earlier in the year to visit, shortly after the World Championships. When he caught sight of Yūri, he ran across the street, not paying any attention to the traffic…”

Georgi groaned, hand coming up to rub his temple in order to stave off any headache that may result in his rinkmate’s recklessness. “…If it’s any consolation, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t normally do that.”

“It was the only time I’ve seen it happen.” Mari allowed.

“So it’s just because of Yūri, then.” Georgi hummed, tilting his head and looking at her askance. “Is your family really okay with…you know. Them?”

Mari snorted. “Well, mom, dad, and Minako would obviously prefer it if they would wait until Yūri’s older before starting any kind of romantic relationship, but you’ve seen them together. That wasn’t going to happen. We all trust them not to go too far before they’re ready. Viktor swore up and down that they won’t be doing anything until Yūri is eighteen, and…well, our family trusts them. Minako trusts Yūri, and knows Viktor wouldn’t hurt him on purpose, so she’s more or less accepting.”

Georgi nodded thoughtfully, agreeing with her words. “It’s going to be a lot worse once your brother is of age, you know.”

Mari winced, head falling into her hands.

“I know!” she groaned with a full-body shudder. “Thank god they’ll be in Russia after that season and I won’t have to deal with it in person…”

Georgi’s breath caught in his throat, and he tripped, barely stopping himself from face-planting into the cement.

“Wait, Yūri’s what?!” Georgi demanded quietly, still not wanting the others to hear him.

“Oh…” Mari winced. “I probably shouldn’t have said that…”

“You can’t leave me hanging now!” Georgi protested slightly.

She bit her lip, chewing on it thoughtfully, before sighing in resignation. “Well, I already let some of it slip, so I guess there’s no point keeping the rest from you…Yūri’s going to turn 18 at the end of November, in 2009.”

“Yes…” Georgi urged.

“He’s starting his last year of high school in a few months, and he’s planning on getting his undergrad degree in a year and a half instead of two years, so he’ll graduate that winter.” She explained, causing the young man’s eyes to widen at the knowledge that Yūri was intending to go to college.

“Will he still be competing?” he asked worriedly. “That’s a full-time commitment, but with school...”

“Yūri’s determined, insisted on it in return for our parents letting him train in America to pursue skating.” Mari sighed. “He might not seem like it, but he can be the most bull-headed person you’ll ever meet.”

Georgi almost laughed at the thought, but then paused. “…Huh. I guess dealing with Viktor does take a certain amount of stubbornness, doesn’t it?”

“Katsuki family trait.” Mari snorted. “So yes, he’s still going to be competing. At this rate, there’s not a doubt in my mind he’ll be chosen as Japan’s representative for the 2010 Winter Olympics, either. I don’t know if they’re planning to get married before then, or after.”

“Yakov said Viktor wants to get married in April.” Georgi supplied. “Something about…sakra?”

“Sakura.” Mari corrected, rolling her eyes fondly at the information. “Cherry blossoms, in English. In our area, early April is the prime time for them to bloom.”

“You don’t seem bothered by the fact that Viktor’s already planning the wedding.” Georgi noted. “Are they even actually engaged yet?”

Mari smiled, a small, secretive quirk of the lips.

“Can’t say for sure, but I have noticed they’re both wearing necklaces and have them mostly hidden under their shirts.” She winked, and Georgi had no doubt that she knew for a fact what they were. Seeing as he wasn’t an idiot, it was pretty obvious what she was implying…

He was about to try and wheedle more information out of her, but was cut off when she grabbed Georgi’s arm to steer him in the right direction. “Come on, we need to get you to the airport if you want to make your flight.”

Georgi grunted as he was dragged towards where Viktor and Yūri were waiting.  

~

“You’re not planning to abscond to Japan permanently too, are you?” Yakov asked him with a scowl once Georgi had gotten back home.

Georgi made a thoughtful noise, if only to get back at his coach for almost accusing him of abandonment without even bothering to say ‘hello’ and ask how his vacation had been—a vacation he had cut short of his own free will so that he could throw himself back into training sooner.

“Well, Katsuki’s sister is pretty attractive…” Georgi mused, glancing up at the ceiling and carefully hiding a smirk as Yakov paled slightly.

“Oh god…” the old man groaned.

“Calm down, Yakov.” Georgi said after another long moment, deciding that he could cut the man a little slack. He did regularly have to deal with Viktor and now Yurio (he’d gotten used to the Japanese-esque nickname), after all. “Mari is a great catch, but we’re just friends. Besides, she’ll be studying in Detroit for another few years at least, and I hardly plan to leave Russia.”

“Good to know one of you has some sense of loyalty.” Yakov muttered with a huff.

“Oh, you mean Viktor?” Goergi laughed. “I wouldn’t worry about that. Mari accidentally let it slip that they’re planning for Yūri to train here once he’s eighteen. Probably the end of the 2009-2010 season, since everyone but Yūri is pretty convinced he’ll be skating for Japan. Mari thinks they’ll probably get married that April, if their parents give their consent.”

“Of course the Japanese Olympic Committee will choose him, they’d be idiots not to after he broke Vitya’s record.” Yakov rolled his eyes at the obvious, before freezing as the rest of his student’s words registered. “So…Viktor isn’t planning to leave the second Katsuki’s legal? He’s planning to wait until the season’s over?”

Georgi frowned at him. “Of course he isn’t…don’t think sex is what Viktor is after. If there’s one thing I got from my stay in Hasetsu, besides a better understanding of honorifics and a yearning for the food they serve at the Katsuki family’s onsen—you’ll have to try it sometime, Mrs. Katsuki is a wonderful cook—it’s that Viktor and Yūri are soulmates.”

Yakov glared at him irritably. “I meant legal to _marry_ , you brat!”

“Oh.” Georgi flushed slightly at his assumption. Damn teenage hormones must still be messing with his mind. Maybe he should try and find a girlfriend? “Then no. Obviously, Viktor’s random trips to wherever Yūri happens to be are probably going to continue, but Viktor is still going to train here, and Yūri will still be training in Detroit under his contract is up with Cialdini.”

The older man was still glaring angrily at him for daring to put the words ‘Viktor’ and ‘sex’ in the same conversation, but eventually sighed and shook his head.

“Wish they’d made that clear a few months ago.” He muttered indignantly, fighting the urge to reach up towards his rapidly thinning hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3
> 
> Georgi's musings about Mari to Yakov are more him messing with the man than anything else, but it's not completely out of the question.
> 
> I kind of have someone else in mind for Mari, though. Not to say they won't be friends or vet his dates to try and avoid another Anya Crisis (as Viktor would have mentioned to her), however.


	44. Author's Note

Hi everyone!

Sorry I haven't been posting, it's just not a very good time for me at the moment.

(Thank you for your concern, Athena! You were right, there is definitely a reason for the lack of updates!)

Like I mentioned previously, work was really busy, and then last Wednesday I was in the emergency room with what we all thought was appendicitis because the symptoms matched until a CT scan and ultrasound showed it to be a 5 centimeter growth in my pelvic area, though they're not sure if it's an abscess or a cyst. Since then, the antibiotics I was given to tide me over until my surgery to have it removed in the next couples of weeks have kind of been kicking my ass. Until very recently I was in significant pain no matter which position I was resting in, and my lack of eating during that time was a little worrying, though now I'm eating three okay-ish sized meals again instead of the first few days, where ALL I had was a single slice of toast and a fried egg.

I doubt it's anything to worry about, so don't freak out about me possibly dying instead of finishing this, but that's the reason. Fluff is hard to write when you're in pain. Still, I have been reading all of the Vikturi fluff I can get my hands on, though as you guys could probably tell by the number of Yuri On Ice bookmarks I have (far outshining the stories I have bookmarked for other fandoms at over 1,500, though not all of them are fluffy), I've read so much of it already that finding the new stuff is a challenge. ;) 

Oh, and my laptop stopped working today, too. I'm typing this from an old one I've previously basically destroyed via overheating by accident, and it has no internet security. I did take my laptop to get fixed today, though, so that problem shouldn't last long.

Anyway, just thought I'd keep you guys in the loop, now that I have the energy/means to do so!

-IronScript


	45. Official Member of the KYPS™

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> Thank you very much for all of your well-wishes!
> 
> My surgery went fine. I was sore for a while, but it hurt way less than between the emergency room visit and the surgery itself, so I count it as a win. The bills suck, but that’s life.
> 
> Sorry I’ve waited so long to update! Also, probably should've posted an update to let you guys know I'm still alive, even if it didn't include a chapter. My bad.
> 
> That’s kind of how it goes with me. I’m extremely motivated for a while, and then when I have to break my focus for whatever reason, I have a hard time finding the motivation to start up again, and it’s usually not at the same pace (though my goal is still at least 2 updates a week). 
> 
> On the other hand, during my too long vacation some really awesome stories for this fandom have popped up, which I dearly hope will be updated soon, as well as the ones that aren’t as new. 
> 
> *sighs forlornly*
> 
> I waited until episode eleven had already aired before starting to watch Yuri On Ice because the waiting game drives me crazy, but when it comes to fanfiction, there’s not much to do about it. At least I knew exactly how long I’d have to wait for episode 12. :P
> 
> Anyway, enjoy! <3

Leah grinned down at her phone as she messaged Mari. She’d been keeping up with the siblings during their vacation back in their hometown.

~

_[PM]_

_Mari: It’s ridiculous, Leah—you have no idea._

_Mari: They’re so absorbed in each other someone could dance naked next to them and they wouldn’t even notice._

_Mari: It got to the point where I think Georgi-san was almost tempted to try it._

_Leah: …We are talking about Yūri, right? I mean, I’ve seen him focused (I wish I could focus with that level of intensity), but surely you’re exaggerating?_

_Mari: I wish. You should’ve seen him watch Viktor read The Philosopher’s Stone to Yurio—he looked like you could try to hand him the world, but he’d turn it down because the only world that matters to him was already right in front of him._

_Leah: That’s kind of terrifying. I couldn’t even make up my mind about what my favorite color was at fifteen, much less fall so deeply and completely in love with someone. Speaking of, has Nikiforov done anything to warrant a swift kick in the ass?_

_Mari: Hah! I should have known you were a member of Yūri’s Protection Squad_ _™. No, trust me, Viktor is a perfect gentleman when it comes to my brother. No need to worry about his virtue. :P_

_Leah: Well, it’s not so much his virtue I’m worried about (Yūri wouldn’t do anything he isn’t ready for), but his heart._

_Mari: Oh, Leah…if you had been there to witness their make-out session on the way to Hasetsu…let’s just say being ‘ready’ isn’t the issue. The real reason they’re waiting is because Viktor isn’t some creepy ephebophile, and no matter how mentally mature Yūri is, the thought of underage sex really creeps them both out. Minako had a very long conversation about that with them, both together and individually._

_Mari: As for wanting to protect Yūri’s heart, thank you. This is why you’re my best friend._

_~_

Leah flushed slightly, ducking her head shyly as a happy smile graced her face.

She shook her head quickly, trying to dislodge her slightly inappropriate thoughts. This was about Yūri, and therefore it was not the time to start inwardly gushing about her slight crush on Mari, damn it!

~

_Leah: He’s a great kid. Kind of like the brother I always wanted but never got._

_Mari: Don’t you have a brother, though? I saw him listed on your Facebook as family…_

_Leah: Yeah, but he’s an ass. He keeps on harping on me to ‘stop messing around with those mangy little beasts and get a_ real _job.’ I haven’t talked to him in months._

_Mari: Shit, I’m sorry. :(_

_Leah: Don’t worry about it, you couldn’t have known. Trust me, I’m better off without that kind of attitude. Be glad your own brother is so awesome._

_Mari: Yūri is definitely better than I was expecting when mom and dad told me I’d be getting a younger sibling, that’s for sure. Which is why if Viktor_ did _break his heart, I’d tear him apart with my bare hands. But he never would, so I’ll never have to._

_Leah: Well, you sound certain, so that’s comforting. I’ll have to meet him at some point to see for myself…_

_Leah: Not that I don’t trust you! I do! It’s just—_

_Mari: Woah, slow down. I got what you mean. By all means, fulfill your duties as a member of the KYPS™ (AN: Katsuki Yūri Protection Squad), I’m sure as hell not about to stop you._

_Mari: I’d appreciate it if you weren’t too harsh on him unless he deserves it, though. He’s going to be my brother-in-law in a few years, and it’d be awkward if he was too terrified of you. Yūri might cry._

_Leah: We wouldn’t want that. Wait…there was no ‘probably’ in that sentence. Has he actually proposed?!_

_Mari: …Fuck. Please don’t say anything! They haven’t made an announcement or anything, but they’re both wearing gold rings around their necks that they’re very careful not to let our parents, Minako, or Yūri’s friends see._

_Leah: I thought Nikiforov wanted your parents’ blessing, though???_

_Mari: I asked about that, actually. He said something along the lines of not daring to presume that Yūri can’t make that kind of decision for himself, and that what he would be asking our parents for permission about would be for them to marry before Yūri’s twenty, which they would need parental consent for, not permission to marry him in general. Then he said that technically they’re promise rings and good luck charms, at least right now._

_~_

A little white lie wouldn’t hurt her friend, Mari assured herself, feeling a little guilty.

Viktor had indeed said that, but it was more than a little redundant, everything considered, especially as her brother had been the one to propose the first time around. Yūri had definitely appreciated his words, though, if the way he kissed the Russian after he said it was anything to go by.

As for the gold bands technically not being engagement rings, Yūri had jokingly said that until they were engraved like the original ones and were on their fingers, it didn’t really count.

He’d only been teasing his future husband, but Viktor, despite being entirely aware of that, had taken him seriously, and within the day the bands had each been engraved with a message chosen by the other, and they had placed the rings on each other’s right ring fingers to symbolize their _official_ engagement, even if they had to relocate them to their necks shortly after when they went down for dinner.

Mari _may_ have cried a little bit, feeling very lucky to have witnessed the exchange.

She was also feeling very lucky about Viktor’s impulsiveness, letting her into their secret, because she couldn’t imagine how she would be feeling about their relationship if they hadn’t.

She knew herself well, and there was a decent possibility she’d have tried to tear them apart, which she now knew would’ve shredded Yūri’s heart more thoroughly than anyone else was worried might happen, and her relationship with her brother probably would’ve been irreparably damaged.

~

_Leah: Well…fuck. I mean, one of my closest friends in high school was engaged before we graduated. Yūri’s younger than she was, but I guess when you compare their maturity levels Yūri’s got the upper hand, and if she and her husband made it work…_

_Mari: It’s something you kind of have to see to believe, I’ll grant you that._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3
> 
> Yes, Leah and Mari. That's kind of been planned for a while. Sorry for anyone who was hoping for Mari and Georgi! Not that anything is set in stone but Vikturi, Hiroko x Toshiya, and Takeshi x Yuuko when it comes to pairings, of course.


	46. Plisetsky Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the reviews, guys!
> 
> Though, I should probably mention: I'm already totally recovered. Most of that mini-vacation was just me trying to find my motivation to write again.
> 
> Anyways, enjoy! <3

“Yuratchka!” the aging man cried out happily as he caught sight of his grandson, who had just come into view.

“Dedushka!” the tiny blonde called with a grin, running towards him and ignoring his travel companion’s pleas to be careful of the people he was bumping into. “I missed you.”

Nikolai’s eyes crinkled as he smiled as he returned the sentiment, glad to have his grandson back with him.

It was hard for the two of them, and had been ever since Yuri’s mother had left her son to her father-in-law’s care, taking off to who knows where in her newfound freedom. He didn’t really have the resources to take care of the boy, at that point merely a toddler, but he’d loved his grandson to bits since learning he was on the way, and there was no way he was going to add to little Yura’s abandonment, so they made it work.

It had gotten easier since the Nikiforov boy had offered to act as a sponsor of sorts for Yura (he had been very suspicious regarding his intentions at first, but the silverette didn’t seem to have a mean bone in his body, if the way he treated Yura and his poodle was any indication) so that Yura could continue working towards his goal of becoming a figure skater and surpassing both Viktor and the Japanese kid they'd stayed with in Japan, but it still wasn't easy for the Plisetsky family.".

Case in point: not being able to take care of Yura while he was sick.

Yura’s best chance at achieving his dream was to stay in Saint Petersburg, but Nikolai had responsibilities back in Moscow, and he couldn’t stay away forever, though he wanted to extend his stay as much as he possibly could. 

Still, eventually other arrangements would have to be made, and he should start thinking seriously about their options.

“Nikolai Plisetsky, I presume?” a voice asked, amusement lacing her tone. It was said in Russian, but with a slightly more airy tone than he was accustomed to.

He glanced up, catching sight of the Japanese woman he’d spotted at Yura’s rink one day, chatting with Coach Feltsman’s wife. Viktor had murmured to him that they knew each other from their days working together as professional ballerinas, so she must be closer to Mrs. Feltsman’s age than Viktor’s own, but she didn’t look it.*

“Minako Okukawa.” She introduced herself with a shake of the hand, changing her greeting in deference to the country she was in. “I’m an old friend of the Katsuki family.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Madame Okukawa.” He greeted back, and she blinked in surprise at the unexpected form of address. 

“Please, call me Minako.” She shook her head. “’Madame’ always makes me feel old. No offense.”

She winked at him, and he snorted at the teasing jab at his own age.

“Fair enough.” He said, slightly rueful. “Thank you for enduring the flight with Yura. Aeroflot is a pain on the best of days.”

“You’re welcome.” She nodded. “We didn’t want to leave entertaining him to the flight attendants. Viktor and Yūri tried to convince us they should go, but I wasn’t too comfortable with those two not having any chaperones. Besides, this way I could visit Lilia.”

Nikolai supposed that was probably the name of Coach Feltsman’s wife, then. “Understandable. Though, if I may, I doubt you have anything to worry about when it comes to Viktor. He’s completely…what’s the word…twitter-patted?”

Minako laughed in delight at the Bambi reference, though for all she knew it was unintentional.

It wasn’t. 

Nikolai used that term solely to see his grandson’s nose scrunch up in disgust at the lovey-dovey word. He had been slowly introducing American movies to the boy in order to build up his English vocabulary, and Bambi had been one of them. 

He hadn’t been convinced about letting him watch it, considering the fact that the main character’s mother died and Yura loved animals, but he had insisted he could handle it. He had shed a tear or two, but that had been nothing in comparison to watching Mufasa die during The Lion King.

His grandson could be so predictable, sometimes…

~

When the pair arrived back home and Yura started unpacking, wanting to show his dedushka everything that he had brought back from Japan, Nikolai staggered back in shock at the sheer amount of cat-themed paraphernalia.

A small slip of paper fell onto the floor, and he picked it up, recognizing Viktor’s handwriting.

‘Be glad it’s not a real cat. He tried very hard to sneak one through customs. -Vitya’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3
> 
> *There might very well be a few flashback scenes of Yuri’s other adventures in Japan, maybe as part of another ‘bonus scenes’ chapter, but for now he’s back in Russia.
> 
> *Nikolai is assuming Lilia took on Yakov’s surname. She might have, and just switched back to her maiden name after they divorced, but honestly my headcanon is that she kept her maiden name even when they were married.


	47. Enter: Phichit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! <3

Phichit took a deep breath as he stepped off the plane.

‘Come on, Phichit.’ He tried to hype himself up. ‘This is the first step towards accomplishing your dream!’

He was so, so proud of his heritage, but he’d been struck by uncertainty, feeling like he was abandoning his country by coming to train in America instead, even though his chances of having the opportunity to make them proud in the international circuit soared by doing so.

He knew this, but it still hurt.

“Phichit-kun!” he heard a voice call happily, and he looked up in surprise to see not only his new coach Celestino Cialdini waiting for him, but the man’s other new student, Katsuki Yūri.

The same one who, completely out of the blue, had gone out of his way to befriend Phichit over social media, even after gaining so much attention and recognition for his accomplishments last season.

Phichit grinned at his friend, who he was finally meeting in person, and felt his mood lift significantly at the genuine happiness in the older boy’s eyes at seeing him.

“Yūri-kun!” he cried out in turn, barely remembering to add the honorific, as he skipped towards the pair and threw his arms around them both in a hug.  
Coach Cialdini stumbled slightly at the unexpected greeting, but Yūri just laughed, returning the hug and ruffling Phichit’s hair as he gently took a hold of his wrist to lead him to the baggage claim area.

The Thai skater laughed, not bothering to resist, and winking at his new coach, saying the one phrase in Italian he knew as he teasingly lifted his hand and waved goodbye. “Ciao Ciao!”

He knew perfectly well the man would end up following them, since he was their ride to Yūri’s place, where Phichit would be staying with him and his older sister. 

It had been decided that Mari would take guardianship of Phichit while they were in America, though he would stay with Celestino if she wasn’t available, such as during any of her brother’s competitions she could make it to, or trips to Japan. Over the summer he’d go back to Thailand for a while during school break, and they’d join up again when it came time to go back to Detroit.

It had been up in the air for a while, whether Celestino or Mari was the better choice, especially taking into account her age. 

Still, Phichit’s parents hoped that by staying with another Asian family would help with any homesickness from Phichit.

They weren’t being prejudiced or anything, they were just hoping there’d be at least a few less cultural differences than if he stayed with the European-born man, and the younger Katsuki had proven himself proficient enough in conversational Thai, so if there were any emergencies there wouldn’t be too much trouble communicating that to them.

The fact that the Katsuki siblings’ apartment allowed pets while Cialdini’s did not was one of the deciding factors for them, especially when Yūri suggested they could get a few hamsters, a long-standing obsession of Phichit’s. Pair that with the offer of a King and the Skater marathon, and Phichit’s heart was so set on becoming Yūri’s roommate that his parents couldn’t have hoped to convince him otherwise even if they had been so inclined. 

Celestino stared at the two boys in bemusement, getting a strong feeling that the two of them combined would be giving him more gray hairs than even Yūri’s ‘scandalous’ relationship with Nikiforov could.

Still…they couldn’t be as bad as the Russian team, right?

~

“Hello!” Phichit grinned at Yūri’s older sibling, who doubled as his new guardian. “I’m Phichit Chulanont. Thank you for having me!”

He had initially been nervous to meet her in person, since he’d only actually spoken with her once or twice with his not quite fluent English, but Yūri’s assurances about how cool she was (though he asked that he never tell her he had said that) had alleviated his worries.

The young adult lifted a hand in greeting, mostly expressionless aside from a tiny quirk of her lips. It was odd, since he hadn’t expected it, but there was a kind glint in her eyes, too.

“Katsuki Mari, but you already knew that.” She murmured. “No problem. Kami knows Yūri needs more friends…”

“I have plenty of friends, thank you very much.” Yūri sniffed in a slightly haughty manner, before winking at Phichit to let him know he was just teasing his sister.

Who seemed to be perfectly aware of that, snorting back at him. “Brat, aside from Phichit, your only friends are Viktor and the Giacometti guy. And we both know Viktor’s a little more than a friend.”

Yūri twitched slightly, and Phichit perked up in interest. Was this confirmation that one of his ships was canon?

“There’s Leah and Kelly, too.” Yūri protested weakly.

“Leah’s my age, and Kelly started off as one of your fangirls.” Mari argued, before turning towards Phichit to explain. “Leah runs the animal shelter Yūri volunteers at, and Kelly is a member of his fan club. They started loitering around the place when they found out Yūri spends time there, and Leah roped them into helping out themselves in exchange for letting them hang around. Most of them gave up when they were confronted with actual work, but Kelly ended up enjoying working with the animals.”

Phichit raised an eyebrow at Yūri, who shrugged awkwardly. “She’s toned it down a lot since then, and even ended up adopting one of the dogs. Sometimes I’ll ask her and her mom to take care of Vicchan for me if Mari and I aren’t here. I’d rather not leave him in a kennel.”

“Perfectly understandable.” Phichit agreed instantly before going into detective mode to make sure she wasn’t a threat to his shipping ways. “So, is she just a friend, or is she a ~friend~?”

Mari cackled at the tone he’d used, and Yūri turned red in embarrassment.

“She’s JUST a friend.” The other boy said so firmly that Phichit felt entirely secure in the well-being of his ship. 

“Yeah, he and Viktor are so gone for each other no one else ever stood a chance.” Mari snorted.

“Mari-neechan!” Yūri cried out in horror.

Phichit gave into the hilarity, falling onto the couch and cackling.

~

“There’s the bathroom…the guest room…and here’s your room.” Yūri explained as he opened the last door, allowing Phichit to enter first. 

“Awesome.” Phichit breathed out, eyes alight with interest as he took in the clean and mostly bare room. 

He plopped down on the bed, sinking into it as the comfortable mattress soothed his sore body. Man, that flight must have worn him out more than he thought, even if he’d slept most of the way…

“Long flight?” Yūri asked with a smirk.

“Yeah, sorry.” Phichit grinned sheepishly.

“Don’t be, I get it.” Yūri waved away the apology. “You’ll end up seeing me with jetlag plenty of times, I’m sure. I’m not exactly a graceful traveler.”

Phichit thought it odd for the boy who constantly moved like a dancer (even with his recent growth spurt and the uncertain movements that accompanied that kind of thing) would ever call himself ungraceful in any sort of capacity, but he’d come to learn that Yūri could be rather more self-deprecating than his skills would suggest.

Something to work on, if possible. 

~

“Wait, why did you guys have two guest rooms?” Phichit asked later on, once he’d had a long enough nap to shake off his fatigue for a few hours, yet short enough that he should be able to sleep at a normal time. “Assuming that’s what my room was…”

“Oh, initially that was Viktor’s room.” Mari took a sip of her drink, ignoring her brother’s gestures as he tried to get her to stop talking. “Last time we spoke he told us to set it up for you, since it’s bigger than the other guest room, and you’ll be staying here long-term.”

Phichit’s eyes lit up at the knowledge that the Russian skater literally had a designated bedroom in his friend’s apartment, and widened even further at the information that the older teen had let Phichit usurp his place.

“Though if you have any Viktor Nikiforov posters like Yūri here does, it’ll be like he’s still staying in there!” Mari grinned slyly.

Phichit was torn between hilarity at the look on his friend's face and utter bliss at the cuteness of Vikturi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3
> 
> Mari is such a troll, isn't she? :P
> 
> If anyone's wondering, in this story Phichit's learned English from a very young age in this story, so he's already pretty fluent in the language. Not that he won't be confused at times, but for the most part.


	48. Beware the Melodrama

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> I’d have tried updating a bit sooner, but I’ve been at an anime convention these past few days, and while they’re fun and exciting while you’re there, when everything is over you just kind of need to recover from all the craziness.
> 
> Needless to say, I had a BLAST.
> 
> Got a Yuri On Ice print while I was there, and one of my favorite events this year was the cosplay contest they threw (basically there were two categories: just modeling the costume, or performing a skit in addition to that), where the skit was Viktor, Yūri, and Yurio…hard to explain, but it was amazing. That group placed, which I’m sure is no surprise to anyone. Podium family, indeed!
> 
> On the other hand, I’ve very recently gotten into Miraculous Ladybug and Cat Noir, and have been quite happily drowning myself in fanfiction for that. I’d ask for help, but I don’t want any. That being said, it’s taking up a lot of my time because I have no self-control, so that’s another reason I’m not updating this as much as usual.
> 
> Sorry, not sorry. It’s just too cute to resist. 

The not-so-newly christened Yurio twitched in annoyance as the gray-haired goofball he called his rink mate (though his grandfather used the word ‘sponsor’, whatever that meant) yet again collapsed on the ice.

Not because he’d fallen or screwed up while skating, but—

“Yūri!” the old man cried, crocodile tears streaming down his face.

“Not again.” Georgi groaned from where he was taking a break near Yurio, and the younger blonde felt a rare kind of kinship with the dark-haired skater.

“I miss him!” Viktor bawled, ignoring everyone around him as he went off into a supposedly romantic monologue which, honestly, there were too exasperated to listen to.

Yakov huffed, pulling out his cell phone and dialing a number.

Yurio couldn’t understand the conversation, which was in English before Yakov apparently remembered that the person on the other end of the line also spoke Russian, but he understood when Yakov ordered Georgi to go put the mobile to Viktor’s head.

The older teen raised an eyebrow, glancing down at it, only to snort as he realized who it must be. The number started with a ‘1’, and there was only one person currently in America that it would make sense for Yakov to call in this situation.

His guess was proven correct when, once he’d done what Yakov asked of him, Viktor’s eyes lit up in utter joy before the older skater (only by one day, but Viktor teased him about it, so he’d take great pleasure in reminding him of that as they aged) practically ripped the phone out of his hands.

Needless to say, in short order Viktor was back to practicing his programs, pouting slightly at the scolding he’d received from his soulmate.

~

Phichit raised an eyebrow curiously as his friend hung up the phone, sighing fondly but with a distinct hint of exasperation.

“What on earth was that all about?” the Thai boy mused.

Yūri had answered the phone in English, then switched to Russian for a brief moment, after which Phichit assumed the phone was being handed off to someone else, and then he started speaking in some sort of insane mix of English, Russian, and Japanese.

He’d always tried not to be too nosy (fine line, and all that), but only being able to understand about a third of what was said, and the parts he did understand making it even more confusing…

“Ah, Viktor’s melodramatic side took over.” Yūri said dryly. “It happens all the time, and usually I’m able to snap him out of it. At this point, Yakov has me on speed dial, or so he’s told me.”

“Which one told you that?” Phichit wondered at the non-explanation, and the fact that Yūri apparently received calls from the man often enough to feel comfortable referring to him by first name.

“Both of them.” Yūri answered promptly. “Georgi, too, in case Yakov isn’t there for whatever reason.”

The fact that his OTP was canon (or as close to it as you could get, because Yūri hadn’t actually confirmed it verbally) was becoming more and more evident every day, but wow, these people were weird.

“Somehow, you don’t sound particularly bothered by all of this.” Phichit observed.

Yūri smiled at him, eyes brightening happily. “I’m not. I miss him, too.”

~

Celestino gazed proudly at his students.

Phichit was coming along quite nicely, considering his hometown’s lack of a sufficient rink to practice at, and Yūri’s firm insistence that Celestino focus more on Phichit’s debut in the junior division than his own in the senior division left him believing that, unlike some of his past students, there would be a healthy rivalry instead of a vicious one. 

Little Jean-Jacques Leroy, who he’d had the dubious pleasure to coach for a short time, had not been so cooperative when it came to his fellow students, but to be honest, he kind of blamed the boy’s parents for that. 

Sure, they were Olympians and retired ice dancers themselves, but he found it a bit suspect that all three of their children were skaters. From what he’d seen, the daughter didn’t seem to fond of it, but her parents had ignored her quiet complaints.

Even in ‘JJ’s case, where he honestly did love to skate, it was clear that his parents put a lot of pressure on him. Too much for such a young boy, that was for sure.

In hindsight, it really shouldn’t have been so surprising that JJ wanted to set himself apart, and even if Celestino thought that that ‘JJ Style’ thing was a little ridiculous, he shouldn’t have made his distaste quite so evident.

Even worse, Mr. and Mrs. Leroy had ended the coaching contract and gone back to Canada before he’d had a chance to apologize to the boy.

Hopefully he’d get the chance, someday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3


	49. YouTube Video (Bonus Chapter)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I missed my '2 chapters a week' goal due to family visiting unexpectedly. My bad.
> 
> Enjoy! <3

_“Hey, everyone!” Yūri waved towards the camera from his place standing behind Viktor._

_“Konnichiwa!” the Russian skater greeted cheerfully. He was sitting on a chair in front of the younger skater, long gray hair down for once._

_“Sorry, he’s insistent on speaking as much Japanese as he can right now.” Yūri rolled his eyes fondly._

_“Yūri!” the name rolled off his tongue. “You know I tend to forget which language I’m supposed to be speaking if I don’t make a conscious effort! Your parents aren’t entirely fluent in English!”_

_“I’m adding subtitles, remember?” Yūri flicked him on the side of the head._

_Viktor pouted cutely. “So mean, Yūri!”_

_“I’m sure you’ll survive.’ Yūri rolled his eyes before turning back to the camera. “So! Today I accidentally made a bet with my friend Yūko—“_

_“More of a challenge than a bet, really.” Viktor interrupted._

_“Hush, you.” Yūri ruffled the other’s hair as Viktor grinned, perfectly content at the action despite his well-known vanity when it came to his hair. “As I was saying, my friend_ challenged _me to try and figure out how to do various hair styles. Her hair is too short at the moment for most of them, and it would feel a bit odd asking Minako-sensei. So, since Viktor’s here with sufficiently long hair…”_

_“I get to act as his Barbie head!” the older teen chirped happily. “Though, I always thought those things looked a little creepy, like they were decapitated, so maybe—“_

_“Enough, Vitya.” Yūri cut him off before he went into a tangent, tugging on his hair slightly. “Let’s get going; my camera’s battery life is great, but it won’t last forever.”_

_“Here’s the list of things Yūko-chan wanted you to attempt.” Viktor said, nodding in acknowledgment as he passed up the list. It was written in Japanese, but unbeknownst to the viewers, he had more than enough experience with the language to read it just fine._

_“Okay…she said she put them in order of difficulty, from least to most complicated.” Yūri read. “So first is a regular ponytail.”_

_“Maybe try it based on how you think it’s done, and then look up a tutorial and try again, at least with the more difficult ones?” Viktor suggested slyly._

_Yūri agreed to the idea absentmindedly, not realizing that the suggestion was just a not-so-nefarious plot of Viktor’s to get his past-and-future husband to play with his hair longer._

_So the video continued, with Yūri either completely failing at the task or making the styles barely passable._

_Still, at least he was careful not to hurt the older teen when he untangled the knots he caused._

_“You’re not very good at this, Yūri.” Viktor stuck his tongue out playfully. “Not even a ponytail. For shame!”_

_“It would probably be easier if it was my hair I was trying to do this with!” Yūri protested._

_Indeed, Yūri knew this for a fact. There was a point during their marriage when he had grown out his hair to his elbows, not much shorter than Viktor’s was now._

_He’d never tried to do anything more complicated with it than put it in a ponytail on occasion, but during the times he_ had, _it had been easier than trying to do the same with Viktor’s hair._

_“Then grow your hair out!” Viktor suggested cheerfully, barely refraining from adding ‘again’ at the end._

_Yūri wasn’t much one for styling hair, but when they’d moved to Detroit after retirement so Yūri could continue on his business degree, and while Yurio was at school instead of being coached by them, Viktor had eventually gotten bored enough to want to 'broaden his horizons' even further, and ended up becoming a certified cosmetologist. It had taken a while, because of their busy schedules, but he had enjoyed it, and it was put to use frequently when Yurio needed to get dressed up for his programs._

_“Maybe.” Yūri murmured noncommittedly, focusing more on trying not to screw up Viktor’s hair too badly for the umpteenth time._

_He didn’t notice Viktor’s eyes light up in joy at the prospect of having more hair to play with, since him doing Yūri’s hair had become a very special and calming ritual for them._

_~_

**Forever;_;Alone:** Oh god, could these two _get_ any cuter?!

 **PleaseSTOP:** Don’t tell me you’re another shipper…

 **Forever;_;Alone:** I mean, yeah, as long as everything is safe, sane, and consensual (so in order to fulfill that last one legally, they’ll have to wait a while), but even if they never get together romantically, you can just tell they’re soulmates.

 **LazySusan9:** Agreed. Romantic, platonic, familial…no question these two are stronger together than they are when they’re alone.

 **Vikturi4Life:** Let’s not kid ourselves, it’ll be romantic.

 **PleaseSTOP:** Okay, seriously you weirdos? Shipping fictional characters is one thing, but these are REAL people!!! How would you feel if people wrote fanfiction about you?

(AN: I don’t care about debatable morality or whatever you want to call it of RPF, this is just for the story.)

 **Vikturi4Life:** Well, okay, some of the fanfiction is really creepy, especially considering their ages, but most of it’s fluffy, because their adorableness is there for everyone to see. Just ignore the creepy ones. Besides, Viktor put on his Twitter that he didn’t mind fanfiction and fan art about him, and Yūri-kun agreed with him.

 **LazySusan9:** If nothing else, follow the golden rule: Don’t like, don’t read.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3
> 
> Regarding Yūri’s college majors, and Viktor’s cosmetology experience:
> 
> In this story, Yūri earned his Master’s while in Detroit the first time around, graduating just a few weeks after the Sochi Grand Prix, during the Fall semester. Six years is usually the projected time to complete a Masters’ degree in America (a semester longer than he managed it), but even with skating, Yūri was an overachiever who took a full course-load every semester. On top of that (since we know in the original timeline he didn’t go back to Hasetsu for five years), he took courses during the summer, too.
> 
> That being said, the general education courses required for all degrees were the same, so once he did passed those to put towards his first degree, he wouldn’t have to have taken too many more classes to tack on a degree in Business. I figure once he found out Minako was intending to leave him the studio, and once he and Viktor started talking about teaching at Ice Castle together, he’d have wanted to turn his Associate’s degree into a Bachelors’, at least.
> 
> As for Viktor, while Yūri and Yurio were both at school and he had far too much time on his hands, he decided to earn a certification in cosmetology with a focus on hairstyling, since he likes playing with Yūri’s hair so much. It comes in handy during competitions and the like when there’s a styling emergency.


	50. What are the chances?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! <3

“Yūri-kun, you’re back!” Leah cheered happily as the fifteen-year-old entered the animal shelter, causing the animals that had already been there when he left to perk up excitedly. She went over to the teenager and gave him a hug, stepping back to ruffle his hair.

“According to Mari-chan, you two have been back for a couple of weeks, now. Too busy to visit little old me?” she continued with a slight pout that she was trying very hard not to allow to turn into a grin.

“Ah…” Yūri rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Sorry. Yes, we’ve been back a while. I’ve been a little focused on trying to make my friend Phichit settle in.”

“Your friend from Thailand, right?” she let the grin overtake her face. “Mari-chan mentioned he’s become her ally in teasing you.”

“As if she needed another one.” Yūri said dryly with a sigh, eying her pointedly. “But yes. Just wait. Once he gets to know her, he won’t have any issue helping me tease her back.”

He just had to survive being double-teamed until that happened.

“Anyway, he’s an animal lover too—particularly hamsters, but he’ll coo over anything fluffy or cute, so I’d prepare to be overrun by a selfie-loving pre-teen soon.” Yūri figured it would be better to warn her.

Leah nodded in acknowledgement, though she tilted her head curiously at the unfamiliar word.

What was a ‘selfie’?

~

At school, Yūri’s classmates teased him (to various degrees) about the videos with Viktor that he had uploaded to his YouTube channel, which had been spread around the school by his fan club.

Of course, he didn’t realize it, but the Katsuki Yūri Protection Squad™ now had a division dedicated solely to squealing about how cute ‘Vikturi’ was, and the few students who had still managed to keep hope that they’d be able to steal his heart from the Russian skater had finally given up.

~

Celestino had been more than willing to focus on Phichit, since the younger student was newer to the rink, but there came a point where he had to draw the line.

“Yūri, you’re debuting in the senior division this season.” He sighed. “We’ve already got your assignments for the Grand Prix series, and you’ll be skating at the Skate Canada International in early November. We need to work on your routines!”

“Ciao Ciao, I _have_ been working on my routines, since before last season even ended.” Yūri assured him, feeling slightly guilty at the stressed out look on his mentor’s face. “I’ve got the music, Valerie is working on my outfits again this year—though she warned me this might be the last year that she can, since she’s been getting commissions from customers who she _doesn’t_ give discounts to, which is great—and my choreography is about 95% finished.”

Celestino froze at the unexpected information, though he really shouldn’t have been surprised, now that he thought about it.

Okukawa _had_ warned him how self-sufficient the kid was. How bull-headed, too, so hopefully there wouldn’t be too many mistakes in what he’d put together, because changing his mind would take a while.

Though, he had learned from his experience with Jean-Jacques that sometimes the student needed to be the one making these decisions, so the least he could do was give Yūri a chance.

“Okay, then, let’s see what you’ve got so far.” He said after a long moment, gesturing for Phichit to get off the ice from where he’d been blatantly eavesdropping on their conversation.

The Thai boy did so immediately, eyes glistening with anticipation and curiosity as Yūri put on his music. Celestino supposed that meant that Yūri had kept it quiet from him, too.

It was odd to describe the feeling that overtook him once Yūri had stepped onto the ice and started his routine.

It felt a little otherworldly as he danced across the ice to music that brought forth such powerful emotions, displaying an almost disturbing amount of maturity in his expression, unlike some other skaters he’d seen, who looked more like they were trying to imitate the look of someone older whenever they tried to project certain feelings.

If absolutely nothing else, even without the costume to complete the look, if Celestino had to give him a presentation components score right now…and to think that it would be even better once he had the outfit to match…

There were a few tiny flaws in his technique when it came to jumps, which Celestino associated with the shorter, less disruptive growth spurt the boy had recently had, but there was no doubt in his mind that he had a genius on his hands.

What were the chances such a skater had already been in Detroit, and even practiced at a rink Celestino frequented often enough to have seen him in action?

He’d really hit the jackpot, here.

~

“You and Nikiforov are like Yin and Yang, in a way.” He found himself saying to Yūri later on. “He’s a genius when it comes to technical elements, and you surpass him with performance components.”

“T-thank you, coach!” Yūri stammered, surprised at the praise.

He wanted to try and deny it, because sometimes he really didn’t feel like he measured up to Viktor, but decades of being assured that if anything it was the other way around (they’d barely managed to compromise that they were equal, but it had helped their relationship when they did) stopped him.

“I notice you backloaded your jumps, though.” Celestino continued. “Do you really think that’s a good idea? I know stamina is one of your strong points, but will that hold up in competition? Can you win with that?”

Yūri had a flashback to another, similar situation from a lifetime ago, where Celestino had been skeptical about the piece of music that later evolved into a record-breaking routine.

This time, he wouldn’t let a lack of confidence hold him back.

“I’m sure.” Yūri said firmly. “Besides, I don’t want my hair to get _too_ long, so I won’t let Viktor have the advantage forever.”

Celestino’s eyebrow shot up.

What on earth did his hair length have anything to do with anything?

Sometimes he felt so out of touch with the younger crowd...

He wasn’t _that_ old, so why did he feel like he was?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! <3


	51. Re-Write Announcement!

Hi everyone!

So, I'm sure you noticed I haven't been updating this recently. 

The reason for that is because I realized that I rushed through it way too quickly, and that in hindsight there were a lot of things I wish I had added.

Solution: re-write the entire thing.

First chapter is up, though obviously I've got a lot of work to do. I decided to link the re-write with this one as a 'series' to make it easier to find.

Hope you guys enjoy it!

-Raven


	52. Author's Note

Hey everyone!

Thought I'd mention it again, in case anyone didn't see the first announcement.

This version of the story is discontinued, but I'm currently 15 chapters into the re-write. Not planning on changing the general direction of the story, but there is a lot more detail and a fair bit of entirely new content, so check it out if you're interested!

-Raven (aka IronScript)

P.S. Still have no intention of taking this version down, though, for those of you who have asked.


End file.
